


A Deadly Team

by WintersRange



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Minor Violence, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 16:05:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 32,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18196364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WintersRange/pseuds/WintersRange
Summary: She has been The Winter Soldiers partner for almost 70 years. Now shes free, can she help free him?formatting and grammar edited.I own nothing but the characters I create.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> please comment let me know what you think and if you would like me to continue.

Chapter 1

Gray walls 36 interlocking cracks, white ceiling 12 cracks, concrete floors no cracks. I spend a lot of time in this room. I've had ample time to memorize every detail. It's exactly 10 feet by 10 feet, with a metal door that lets a little sliver of light in through the bottom. That light is the only light this room has, but I don't need much to see. The doctors did something, a long time ago, so I could see just as well in the dark as I can in the light. I'm also very strong,, fast and heal much faster than I used to. At least I think I do, I'm not really sure, my memories are mostly lost to me. Each time they take me out of the freeze I remember less and less about the previous times I was awake

. As I sit I can hear people walking about in the halls next to my room. They are preparing the machines to put me back under. Someone in black guard clothes opens my door, I know without prompt that I am supposed to follow so I stand up and make my way out of my room. They lead me down a hall I know by memory. two lefts then a right through the metal doors, into the Cryo Room.

There are two cryo tubes in this room, one for me and one for number 2. Though he’s sometimes called the Winter Soldier. I am never called anything except Number One or Asset They seem to feel like reminding me that I am nothing more than a tool for them. I know that the names they have given us mean nothing. I used to have a name but I have long since forgotten it, though when I'm locked in my room for hours on end, I try to imagine what it used to be, I never let on to the guards, scientists or anyone, that I think about anything other than missions. It’s all I'm supposed to think about, and if they were to know that I thought about things like my name or my life before Hydra they would wipe my memory, like they do for number 2. Every time he is prepped to Freeze they wipe his memory, and then when they wake him up they do it again.

My mind is too important to mess with too often. I have powers that I think I was born with. though I've never been taught how to use them. Forgetting how to control them could be dangerous. I'm not exactly allowed to practice. I know they are there I can feel the hum of them under my skin. Once, a long time ago, before they knew I needed to keep my memories, they wiped me, and when I woke up most of the building around me was crumbling, I was being dragged away to a new facility. Since then they don't wipe my memories.

I sit in the chair that's in my tube and wait. A man in a lab coat comes over and jerks my arm up, rips the sleeve up to expose my arm and without preamble shoves the needle in. The substance they inject burns but I've grown used to the feeling, and wait for it to engulf my whole body. They lower the glass shield around me and I can feel the cold air start to rush in and suddenly NOTHING.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am trying my best with grammar and format. Please forgive the mistakes.

Chapter 2  
I can feel my body, that's new. Soon my other senses come to me, first touch. I know that I'm sitting in a chair all leaned back and since its not cold I assume I'm not in my tube anymore. Then my mobility comes back, though I don't move. If I move I could alert whoever is waking me up that I am awake. This is the only time when I can just observe the lab they use for freezing us. So I lay still. Then my hearing comes back and I hear the lab coat people talking. I've only been out of my tube for a little while, it seems, because they are saying I should be ready to receive orders in about an hour. I sit listening, this is a first, I don't usually have more than a minute or two before they are shaking me, because I should already be awake. I'm awake an hour before I normally would be. I remain very still, not alerting them that I am awake until i hear something I never thought I would hear outside of my room. Silence. I crack an eye very slowly in case I am wrong and there is someone still in the room. I hear no heartbeats and nobody breathing. I scan the room and realize I am completely alone. I sit up very quickly and scan the room. There are computers, papers and the cryo tube for Number 2. Other than that, there is nothing but the chair where I sit. I quickly stand up realizing that the chair I'm in is the one they use to wipe Number 2 .While I haven't been wiped in a very long time. They do use it as punishment to remind me who is in control.

I wander over to number 2s tube, he looks exactly the same as he did the last time we worked together. They often woke us up at the same time so we could work together. We are a flawless and deadly team. Last time we were awake we spent two weeks tracking and taking down our target. In those weeks number 2 had started having flashes of memory and talking about being free. I had laughed darkly. Freedom was something people got to have, not us, we were tools. When we had returned they had wiped him several times, making me watch. They kept telling me that this is what happens to assets who forget what they are.

Suddenly it hits me. I am alone. I've been walked through the halls for missions enough times, that I know exactly where I am and what halls lead to the outside. In that split second I decide I'm going to be free. While Number 2 had talked I had secretly agreed that it would be amazing to walk among people without looking for a target, I didn’t want to be punished for thinking about memories or to be a tool used to take lives. I know I have to take 2 with me we are stronger as a unit and I can't forget the look in his eyes as he talked about freedom. I start looking for a way to open his tube. I know I wont have long and it's a miracle they don't have cameras in the cryo room it's too cold in here for them to work properly. I have to work fast but I've never been awake when they open the tubes, so i don't even know what I'm looking for. It's not like they are labeled. There’s just a keypad Trying to think logically I look at the keypad, there is a green button and I try it but it buzzes loudly. I can hear distant sounds of someone coming to the cryo room it sounds like I have less than a minute before someone will be in this room with us and with one comes many more. I know I wont be able to fight my way out if one sets off the alarms so I give up with the keypad and try to break the glass.I punch it, usually my punches would go through glass like it was paper but this time my fist just bounces off. shit shatterproof glass. I look around again knowing I'm down to less than 30 seconds looking back at the peaceful face of number 2 almost deciding to just sit back down in my chair and pretend to have just woken up, but no, if I'm free then I can work out a way to free number 2. 

I have to get out now, so with one last look into his tube, I turn and run towards the door. Passing the computers I notice something, a file open with a picture of me in my tube on one side and pages on the other. Acting fast, I grab it and tuck it into the waist of my pants. Thinking that it was a good thing, they froze us with most of our gear on.  
Outside the door I hear 3 people talking and sliding the access card to open the door. I crouch waiting for it to open, having to time it perfectly. Just as it opens, I launch from the crouch and collide with the head of the man on the left. He falls to the ground unconscious.before the other two men understand what has happened. I kick the second man and jump for the third, putting him in a choke hold till he stills. Grabbing the badge off his coat I waste no time taking off down the hall. I take a left then a right before I run into another person . This one's dressed like the guards who walk me from my room .Before he can raise his gun, I'm on him. A swift punch to the temple and a feeling of bone crunching under my fist, and I'm off again. Another right and a left and I come to a set of doors. I know these are the doors that will lead to an above ground garage .Knowing I won't be able to outrun them on foot ,I need a car. I have no idea how many people are on the other side of this door. Taking a deep breath to steady my heartbeat and thinking, one last time, about turning around and going back to my chair and just taking the punishment, I remember the life in number 2s eyes as he talked about being free and remind myself that if I go back then neither of us will be free. 

No, I have to make it. If I'm free and out there, I can figure out a way to get him out, but if I stay we are both stuck.

I slide the badge and kick the door open just as alarms start blaring. Every person in the garage looks at the door and sees me. They realize the alarm is because I am making a run for it. They raise their guns and start shooting .Diving behind the nearest SUV ,I can see 3 guards by the doors,and 2 men in lab coats standing by what I assume are their cars. Thinking about it, I decide to take one of the cars. They won't have the tracker that the Hydra SUVs do. They will blend better till I can find another car. Knowing that these cars won't be bulletproof, I need to take out the guards by the doors.

The gunfire stops, I hear the guards move to try and get a better angle on me.Launching myself at the one closest, I use my momentum to send us both to the ground. As we land his head hits the pavement, he’s unconscious .Without waiting, sure that more guards are headed this way, I leap to the hood of the car we were behind. I locate the next guard he's 2 cars away, looking around the end of the SUV, trying to locate me.I jump, almost soundlessly to the rafters above the cars, and hang there for the count of 3 waiting for the guard to come to the aid of his fallen friend. As soon as he's within reach I swing and drop to the floor right in front of him. I grab the back of his head and using the car we’re next to, slam his face into the hood. He goes down easily but where is the 3rd guard?

Listening I can hear 3 very fast heartbeats coming from the far side of the garage. The guard must be protecting the men in lab coats. Silently making my way over to where I can hear the heartbeats. I sneak onto the roof of the car and slide my way to the edge . I look over and see the guard looking around the end of the car low to the ground, hoping to surprise me if I come for the lab coat people.Shaking my head at the stupidity of focusing on only one point of attack . I jump down behind him and quickly snap his neck, sending him to the floor in a pile. I turn around quickly to see the men in lab coats looking at me with pure fear in their eyes. I grab the one I saw standing next to the car.

"Keys" I say.

My voice comes out horse and I realize it's been a long time since it’s been used .The man fumbles with something in his hand. Grabbing the keys, I drop him back to the ground. Turning around to get into the car, I see the guard I killed. He is carrying quite a few weapons, I think I could use a few, if I'm going to make it out of this.Stooping down, I grab his fallen rifle, sidearm and the knife he kept on his thigh.Knowing I didn't have time left to go grab weapons from the other fallen guards, I open the car door and I throw myself in. As I shove the key in and turn it, I hear the car start and throw it into reverse.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I should continue with this story. I have about 20 chapters finished but my spelling and grammar need allot of work. if your enjoying it let me know. if anyone is interested in me continuing I will.

Chapter 3  
Flipping the car around, I slam it into drive and take off towards the garage door. Watching as it comes closer, I hope the car is strong enough to make it through the door and still be drivable. Bracing myself for the impact, I watch as the car breaks through without taking too much damage. Looking ahead I take in the sight quickly. I think to myself, maybe I should have taken one of the bulletproof SUVs, afterall. All the guard towers had their guns aimed at me. More guards are running out to the road that leads out of the gated compound. In the half second before they realize, I just came out of the garage already going full speed, only slightly lessened when I hit the door, I punch the gas and shoot for the checkpoint gate. I laughing silently at the look on the guards faces when they dive out of the way. As if they thought their presence was enough to stop me from getting out. I realize a little late that the bar at the checkpoint is down. With the height of the car, it's going to smash my windshield. Quickly swerving, it catches just the corner of the window on the passenger side.

Swerving onto the road outside of the gate, for the first time without it being a mission was terrifying. I have no idea where I am but this seemed like the only road on this side of the compound. Hell, I don't even know what year it is, but that isn't going to stop me. Pushing the gas pedal down as far as it will go, I shoot down the road. It's a little road, surrounded by thick woods. The clock on the dash tells me it's a little past 11pm. Following the road,I take the turns at breakneck speed, knowing I need to reach a town or city quickly. I have to have half the facility following me by now. If I don't make it fast, they would know exactly where to find me.

I drive on about for 30 minutes before I decided it is too dangerous for me to stay in this car, on this road,out in the open where they can find me so easily. I find a turn on the road that leads down to the river below and stop the car. Getting behind it, I ease it into the river so as not to disturb the ground or water too much and making it easily spotted . I then take off at full speed for the treeline on the other side of the road. Deciding to head north which is a little to the left of the opposite direction of the facility. I start running, easily jumping trees and roots, navigating my way through the thick trees. always keeping my ears tuned for any sounds of pursuit.

After an hour of this I see a light on the clouds up ahead. Knowing that lights reflecting on the clouds means a city, I start running with more determination. This is the first town I’ve come across, meaning that Hydra knows I needed to get here if I want a chance of escaping. As I draw closer I notice the helicopters. 

Knowing that's why I hadn't had anyone coming after me, they had decided to head straight to the closest city and wait for me. I stopped a ways out assessing the situation. The city is probably crawling with agents and guards alike. The helicopters are watching the roads leading into the city. More than likely the local cops have been paid to watch for me on their patrols. So as to not alert the civilians to the danger of a Hydra facility only a short ways away, They would look like civilians meaning I wouldn't know if I was walking past one till they had me drugged or shot. Running through my options, I watched the sky. I could try to sneak into the city and find a way out of it, but I shot that idea down quickly since they probably had every way out of the city watched in case I made it. I could continue through the woods in hopes of finding another town, but that didn't seem like a very good idea either. I don't know how far away another city is, or if it will be swarming with Hydra like this one. 

Deciding to skirt the city, I am hoping to find a sign or road with a sign that tells me where i am. I hope it is somewhere I know, at least vaguely so you can figure out my next step. I make it to the very edge of the city, just outside of where they would bother looking. Slowly making my way around the houses I see a gas station with its lights on, this is my chance. Sneaking up to the side window I look in. There is a young man sitting behind the counter looking at his phone, I know I have to get him out of the store or I can’t go in. My black combat uniform will probably tip him off that something was up with me, or scare him, since I am also carrying a gun. I go over to one of the pumps, and slide the gas nozzle out of its holder and lay it on the ground. I take out my knife and wedged the credit card reader cover off, thankfully I am rather gifted with technology, and Hydra had decided it would be useful for me to stay very up to date. It didn't take long to bypass the payment, and the machine told me to pick a type of gas. hitting one of the buttons, without looking, I hurry back over to the shadows.

I watch the gas pump out, soaking the ground around the pump. Then I hit the emergency shut off button on the side of the building, that will shut off the gas flow and send an alarm into the store. Just as I make it back into the shadows, the young man comes out cursing. He runs over to the pump while pushing buttons on his phone. I hurry inside before he can come back. seeing the wall of maps, I grabbed one of every kind. I see a hat and a bunch of shirts saying Reva South Dakota. At least know where I am. on my way back out I see protein bars, grabbing as many as I can, not knowing when I last ate or would eat again. I slip back outside and slide back into the woods before the young man has even finished calling whoever he called.

Walking about 30 minutes, until I was far enough out of the city to feel safe. I pull out the map of South Dakota. Remembering the names on all the clothing items I saw, I quickly find Reva. I am in the Northwest corner of the state,the nearest town in the direction I was heading is Sorum. I’ll head there and see if it is crawling with Hydra like this town. Quickly getting up I start heading that way, thanks to my enhanced speed I reached it in 15 minutes. Looking around, I didn't see any signs of Hydra. Just because I don't see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Finding a car in an old junkyard that looked like it hadn't been trashed, it must be the owner’s car. I make quick work of hot wiring it. Slowly making my way out of town, constantly looking around waiting for someone to attack. First going south, until I reached a place called Rapid City. Turning to head east, not really having a destination just knowing I needed to put space between me and Hydra. 

Two days of driving, and three stolen cars later I reach Virginia. Stopping in a city named Arlington, I decided it am far enough outside of the city not to have to deal with all the people, but big enough that I could blend in easily. Ditching the car into the Potomac River, I walk the city streets. Things haven't changed much in the outside world, I learn it is 2014, so only a few years frozen this time. Finding an abandoned building, I decide it will do for now since I have no money and no idea what i'm going to do. Sliding in through a broken window, I find a safer room, only 2 point of entry, positioning myself so I can see both points, I start to fall asleep. Guess that's one good thing Hydra taught me, how to fall asleep anywhere and never sleep so deeply that I could be snuck up on. A few seconds later I’m asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
I wake up just a few hours later, about an hour before the sun is going to start coming up. I do a quick inventory of what I have. I’m short on weaponry, I have a pistol, a standard Beretta, with two spare magazines,. an M16 rifle with half the rounds it should have, obviously the guard hadn't been expecting me to attack and didn't bother to make sure his gun was fully loaded, and a spring powered ballistic knife. It’s not much but it would have to do. I know if anyone sees me with the M16 or the ballistic knife it will lead to too many questions, both are illegal for civilians to carry. I need to find somewhere safe to lay low and blend in. Deciding to start looking before the sun really comes up, I leave the warehouse.

Working my way through the shadows,I am careful to stay away from the busy streets, since my tactical gear will also draw attention. Down what looks like a residential street, I find a house that looks like it hasn't been lived in for some time. Sneaking around back, I find a window unlatched and slide it open.Slipping inside and looking around I find myself in an empty basement. I checked each room, finding nothing. Going up the stairs, I see a small kitchen connected to a equally small living room. Whoever had lived here must not have liked the curtains, they were still mostly hanging over the dirty windows. After doing a quick sweep of the upstairs, I find a bare mattress in one of the rooms, but not much else in the house. By now the sun has come up fully. Knowing it is too dangerous to go out during the day, I pull the mattress into the basement where it will be easier to defend or escape should anyone come into the abandoned house. 

Laying down on the mattress, ignoring the fact that it is lumpy and smells of dust, knowing I have slept on worse. I decide to sleep till almost dark, then I will venture out and find some of the other supplies I need. 

Waking at the shutting of every car door and voice of people walking by, I gave up sleeping. Sometimes I wished I couldn't hear everything around me, but it does make it easier to make sure I am safe and no one is going to sneak up on me. 

As I lay there watching the sun though small windows, I think about number 2. Would he remember he had had a partner when they wake him up next? Will they punish him for planting the idea of freedom in my head?

I was trained not to feel, but always felt the need to protect number 2. I was there when they brought him in the first time. He had looked scared and worried. I was pretty sure he was older than I am, but decided that I would do whatever i could to help him because he was new. When they paired us against each other for training years later, they learned that we were both very skilled fighters. He was more for guns and I more for knives and hand to hand. Though, we both could switch between either with ease.  
They sent us on our first mission together the next night. He paused for only a second when taking the shot, but it was enough that I knew he would be in trouble with our handlers. Punishment was something I knew too well, so I took his gun and shot the man, telling him mission accomplished. When we returned they inspected us and our weapons, deciding that since it had been his gun that was shot that he must have taken the targets life and that I had somehow failed. I didn't correct them, and number 2 had already been taken back to be prepped, so it was me who got the punishment. Food withheld, training with other agents till I would pass out from exhaustion and injury, and without fail my own time in the chair. I didn't mind as much, because he was already being wiped every time he came out of the freeze. He didn't need to be punished and then made to forget it. It went like that for years. Over the years number 2 stopped hesitating and I stopped having to take over. I would still be the one to take the shot more often than not. I always knew i was taking a life, I wasn't sure number 2 did. When they would wipe him so many times I wasn't sure he thought he had a life, and therefore didn't understand that he was taking something from someone else. We became an unstoppable team, the ones they would send out to make sure the job was done. It became second nature that we had each others backs. Now I had left him there, i didn't have his back, so who would?

I sat up straight, a thought hitting me with the weight of a building. Will they wake him up to hunt me down? Yes,I was sure they would. They would use the knowledge they let him keep about me, to hunt me down and take me back.They would tell him something, most likely that I had been compromised and then he would come. Shit, he did know me well enough to have a damn good shot at finding me. He wouldn't know that I had broken free because of him.That I was hoping to do the same for him, he would just have his orders. Looking around, every shadow now seemed dangerous. That was ridiculous, they would have to have time to first wake him up, then wipe him just enough to convince him I was a target. Then he would have to find me He couldn't already be here. Still, I checked every inch of the abandoned house. Sitting back down, I set to work on a plan. If they were going to wake him up, that would make things easier for me. I was going to use the time he was looking for me, to find a way to save him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
It’s been several days since I came to the outskirts of Washington DC. I made quick work of the mental list I had come up with. Needing clothes that would help me fit in, I wasn't willing to let go of the bulletproof vest or tactical gear I wore. Knowing that at any moment Hydra, or more likely number 2 could find me and it would most likely be one hell of a fight. I found a rather large gray hoodie sitting in a trash bin outside of a thrift shop, the thing had seen better days, but it was large enough to allow me to keep my gear on, but cover it. If I untucked the pants around my boots they didn't stand out so much, so I could pass with them . Then I set out looking for food which was much easier to find, it seemed people in this time throw food out without thinking. Everyday I would use the early dawn hours to grab as much food out of garbages I pass, as I can. Then slink back to my abandoned house to hide out for the day. I use the night to walk around the city, making sure number 2 hasn’t found me yet. As well as he knew me, I knew him better. I didn't have my mind wiped every few years, I knew where he would come from, knew his weaknesses and I what to look for.

During the day, I use a laptop I stole from some college kid. Putting together a plan on how to break number 2 free. The most complicated part is how to break his programming. His, is so much more complicated than mine. I still catch myself thinking, I should go back. I was a tool and they need me to help fix the world. In just the few days since I escaped, I know that, yes, the world needs help. It doesn’t need Hydras help. They lied to us. They were the cause of so many of the world's problems today, that I figured they were trying to break the world, not fix it.

I also use the computer to find things I missed. Not knowing what year I was born, or what year I was captured, I start in the present and worked back,Sometimes I get flashes of what I think are memories. Sometimes I am just confused by things I see.

Being extremely good at coding, hacking and writing programs, it didn't take me long to decide I need some help and created a program. It is an Artificial Intelligence. I had been working on one for Hydra but never got to complete it. Taking the designs from that, I didn't have much trouble creating one. I chose to name her Jennifer, because everyone should have a name. She scans the internet, helping me pinpoint important information from the last 100 years

More importantly, she helps me learn about number 2. While reading about Hydra, just looking at random websites, I saw it. A picture of a man in red, white and blue with a shield. He isn’t what caught my attention. It’s the man standing behind him. It’s number 2, smiling and with life in his eyes and short hair. I almost broke the down button as I smashed it, trying to get to the article under the picture.

The name of the man, who could only be number 2, was James Barnes. He had served in WW2 fighting with the Howling Commandos. Their mission is what blew my mind, they had been taking down Hydra. Well, the part of Hydra connected to a man named the Red Skull. Number 2 had been fighting Hydra. He had fallen during a mission, and been declared dead. I knew he hadn’t died, They found him and brought him to the same base where I was , some time after that. His left arm had been replaced with the metal one that wasn't in the picture. Number 2 had a past, and what's more it seemed that part of his past had traveled to the present.

There are stories all over the internet about Captain America, stories that told about him waking up from being frozen for 70 years. Stories about what he is doing now, something called Shield and the Avengers. Rogers could be a good place to start breaking number 2s programming. How to approach him? Do I just walk up to him and say, hi your friend you think is dead is actually alive and being controlled, please help me. No, I don't think that is a good way to go. I know the next step is going to be finding Steve Rogers and talking to him. Maybe I could explain the situation to him. My conversation skills are severely lacking but I can try. 

Heading out the next day, I had learned he worked for Shield, their headquarters were just over the river on Theodore Roosevelt Island. Walking, not trusting a cab, I followed the walking bridge to the impressive building. I knew when I got there, something was wrong. There is glass broken on one side of the building, and even from this distance I can see someone is working to fix an elevator. Trying to figure out what is going on, I hear two people talking, there is an order to find Rogers. I don’t know what he did, but when I see the 5 big black armored SUVs rolling out of what I think is a garage, I'm willing to bet it isn't good.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
Taking the back streets, I am able to keep the SUVs in sight. That's when I see the flash of metal that tells me,that I know exactly who is in the car. They had awakened number 2 , but not to come after me. From the looks of it, something big is going down and Captain America is standing in the way. No one stands in the way of number 2 and Hydra for very long. I run at full speed till I realize they are going to get on the freeway. There’s no way to follow on foot there, so I veer off onto a empty street, the first car I see is going to have to be good enough. It took me a couple of seconds to break the window and hot wire it. I throwit into drive and head for the freeway.

Every second they get further away, I risk them killing the captain. I know I need him to help number 2. Swerving through the cars, I spot them. Not only were the black SUVs a dead give away, but it looks like they were successful in stopping the Captain and his accomplices. Number 2 was now shooting off the top of the bridge, a line of hydra agents behind him. Slamming the brakes, I watch number 2 jump off the bridge. Having no idea what to do, I pull my knife and get out of the car. 

Creeping up on the Hydra agents, who are busy attaching repelling gear to their tack belts. Silently, I sneak up behind one and slash his throat, and throw him over the bridge. Before the others can look up to see me, I send my blade through one of their throats causing him to to go down. The third and fourth come at me at the same time, they have guns and I have my knife. I still feel it isn't really a fair fight for them. I send one flying off the edge of the bridge. I slide by the next agent on his right side, knowing he is expecting me at eye level, and slash at the back of his ankle. Hitting my mark, I send him to the ground screaming in pain. I turn and kicked him in the head, silencing him before any of the other agents hear. I hear footsteps behind me. Turning, I see another agent. Before I can make a move, another man is slashing out at this agent and sends him flying off the bridge as well. I look at the man, guessing he must be with Rodgers. He eyes me up and down, as if asking “Who are you?” Before he could ask me, I heard the sound of an explosion. Looking over the edge, I see Rodgers taking off down the road, in the direction of the explosion.

Without thinking I jump off the bridge, landing with precision on the road below and take off running. I need number 2. I need him not to kill Rogers. I need Rodgers to stop sending up every signal to Hydra, telling them where we are.. As I run up the street I see Number 2 and Rogers fighting. They flip each other over the cars and are sending up so many flares, that to me it scream. “We’re over here, Hydra, come get us!” 

Reaching the edge of the fight, I stop. I didn't know what to do to stop number 2. I was saved from figuring it out, when a redhead came flying out from behind a car at me. Now I was fighting the redhead, while number 2 handled the man with the shield. I have no idea what happened to the man I was on the bridge with. The woman I’m fighting is skilled, I have to give her that. She is also hurt and I don't want to kill her so I just keep blocking her shots until the man from the bridge comes flying in. He hits number 2, knocking him off of the car he was standing on. I give up and choose a swift hit to the bullet wound on her shoulder. It should keep her down for just a few seconds without lasting damage. As I turn from the woman, I see the man with the shield flip Number 2 over his shoulder and down the street, dislodging number 2s mask in the process. Then I hear the man with the shield say,’’ Bucky “. Thinking what the hell is a” Bucky?” I see number 2 raise the gun in his hand, and jump before thinking I stand in front of Rogers. If number 2 shoots, he will hit me instead. Only to have a fucking rocket come flying past my head and hit the car behind Number 2. With all the smoke and fire I don't see where Number 2 goes. Shit how am I going to find him now? I know I don't have long, I can hear the SUVs and the sound of more agents coming. I turn to the man named Rogers, he looks ready for another fight. I don’t have time to explain, so I say. 

"I'll find you"

Though it comes out like a whisper, I’m still not used to using my voice. I turn and bolt, running between wrecked cars and tall buildings until I find a fire escape. I launch myself up it, climbing it in record time. The roof gives me a good view to watch what is happening with Rogers and his accomplices, while staying hidden from the helicopter in the sky and the Hydra agents on the ground. I watch as they load all 3 into the back of a transport vehicle. Great, I think to myself how was I going to break them out of that.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
Snagging another car off of the backstreet, I follow at a safe distance. Maybe I can attack when they get where they’re going. Getting a pretty big shock, I watch 4 people fall out from under the transport truck and run into the bushes. I slow down knowing that following the truck won't do me any good anymore. I take a sharp turn into a park, where I see the three people from the fight on the bridge and another who is wearing a guard uniform, but they are talking without any aggression. 

I pull up to them, screeching to a halt. Flinging the door open, the redhead looks at me suspiciously and Rogers readies his shield. Not knowing what to say, to keep them from attacking, after all they had just been attacked. I was saved from saying anything when the one I was on the bridge with spoke up.

“It’s ok I don't think she's with them", he said looking at me "She took out 4 of them back on the bridge."

I can't think of anything to say, he vouched for me. No one had ever done that, at least not that I know of. Finding my voice again I say.

" You should get in, they will notice you’re gone soon and she”, pointing at the redhead "needs medical attention before she passes out".

Rogers looked at the man from the bridge, he nodded and they move to get in. The redhead still looking at me, like she thought the fight wasn’t over. but she looked ready to pass out from blood loss. Once everyone was in, I hit the gas again. The new woman tells me to take a left once I get back onto the main road. I looked at her suspiciously, but do as she says. I follow a road, with lots of turns, for what seemed like forever. Finally taking the last turn, I pass over a bridge to what looks like an abandoned dam building. 

The man from the bridge and the new woman get out quickly. Rogers helps the redhead out, she’s barely conscious. I get out, looking after them still not sure if I should go into a building with people I don't know. I need Rogers help, and he is walking in, so I ran to catch up. Taking the other arm of the redhead, I throw it over my shoulder. Rodgers looks at me as if to say thank you. I shrug the shoulder that doesn’t have half the redhead’s weight on it and we go into the building. It is a flurry of movement, a man wearing a lab coat comes running up to the three of us. I immediately go stiff,my experience with lab coats has never been good. If he is one of them I’m not going to let him near the redhead. Rogers notices my stance as if protecting her and he catches my attention saying.

" It’s ok, he's going to help her"

Nodding I follow the man in the lab coat. He leads us into another room where there is a man in a bed. He looks like he’s had a very bad day. The man in the bed talks to everyone, as he lists off his injuries I notice that Rogers has stopped and is staring at the man in the bed. Taking the redhead’s weight, I lead her over to the chair by the man in a lab coat. I help her sit down, she looks at me with a question in her eyes. Before she could voice it, the man in the lab coat takes her jacket off and begins cutting the shirt away from the bullet wound. When she hisses in pain, I stiffen again but don't move to stop him, understanding that he was going to help her. I don't however, leave her side until the doctor has finished getting the bullet out. Once that is done I realize the room has fallen silent, I look up and noticed that everyone is looking at me. The redhead coughs to catch my attention .

"I won't thank you for making the wound hurt like a bitch, but thank you for helping"

I nod at her not sure what to say, I didn't mean to hurt her but I needed to get to number 2.

"Who the hell are you" asked the man in the bed. 

I don’t know what to tell him, how much to say, what to say. So I looked at the man named Rogers.

"I need your help" my voice comes out raspy, but understandable.

"Unfortunately we have some rather big problems to deal with, before we try and help random girls" says the man from the bridge.

“Why is Hydra after you?" I blurt out.

That seems to shock them. If the look on Rogers face was anything to go on.

"How do you know about Hydra?"

“How do you know they were Hydra" 

Are asked at the same time. I choose to answer both at once.

"They sent number 2 after you, which means that Hydra is after you, and they want you dead" I say.

"Number 2?" questions Rogers

"The man with the mask, they call him number 2" I answer him

"Bucky" I hear him whisper

In one move he has me backed into the wall behind me, I had expected it so I don’t fight.

"What do you know? How do you know what he's called? Who are you?" he asks in quick succession. 

Once again I answer in the simplest way I can.

"Because I am Number 1".


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
That had him dropping me and picking his shield up.

"Shit no, I'm not with them anymore"

I hurry to try and explain. why can't I manage to say anything right? I think to myself.

"Hydra took me a long time ago, I’m not really sure how long. They trained me to be their weapon, then they would put me into cryo till they needed me again. One day they brought in someone new, they said he was going to be their number 2. They worked him till they could get into his head and rewired it. He was made into a weapon like me, then they put us together for missions, their perfect team, but I escaped."

I saw the look of horror on Rogers face as he says.

"You left him with them?" 

Crap this isn’t going well.

“ No, well yes, he was still frozen and I didn’t have time to break him out. I knew that if I was out, if I was free, I could figure out how to get him out too. If I was caught we would both be trapped,and this time they would wipe me like they do to him and"

“ Wipe him?" asks the redhead cutting me off.

" Yes they have a machine they use. It can block off parts of your memory, they didn’t use it on me for anything but pain. They use it on him though, because he keeps “thinking dangerously” and they needed to keep him compliant."

"How do you think dangerously?" asks the man from the bridge.

This time it is the redhead who answers him 

"By thinking differently than how they want, any freedom is stripped away until you don’t think"

I look at her, her voice jars something in my memory, but I can't figure out what.

" Anything that could risk their tools, thinking they aren't tools" I ended.  
Looking back at Rogers 

“That's why I came here, I was looking for you, thinking I could get your help in getting number 2 out.When I went where the internet said you worked, I heard that there was a search happening for you. I saw the SUVs and number 2, I knew that they had woken him up but now I knew it wasn't to find me it was to get you " I said, looking at Rogers.

“ I don’t know what’s going on. I've only been out of the facility for a little while and I haven't been out of Cryo in 4 years but i'm willing to help."

“Why would you do that?" asked the man in the bed

" I don't want to be a tool used by them anymore, I want to be a tool used against them" The conviction in my voice surprises me.

He’s looking at me, he seems to weigh what I said.

“Sounds good to me, and she could be useful. She might know more about project Insight." He says.

At the word insight something flashed in my mind, working for days on end writing and rewriting code, and talking to a computer? That doesn’t make sense. But suddenly I know I could be of help

"I helped write the code for program Insight" 

They stare at me as if I had just killed someone, internally I cringe because if they were successful I had helped them kill a lot of someone's.

"I can't help what I did in the past, but I can help now. I know how that code works, I know what they need in order for it to work". 

Rogers looks suspicious but nods allowing me to continue.

"They need to link what I think are ships together, they will work together with Insight to target who they view as a threat. Then there is a launch sequence, that will launch all the guns at the same time so they can be controlled from any one of the ships"

"Helicarrier" says the man from the bridge.

"What's a helicarrier?" I ask

He just shakes his head and mutters that he will explain later. It didn't take long for them to come up with a plan, and explain it to me. Sam, Natasha and the Captain would get to the carriers, insert the chips that would let Maria, the new woman whose name I had learned, control the guns on the ships. Then they would get off the carriers, She would target each of the carriers with the guns from the others, and take them down with their own guns. It is a good plan, I was told I would be the back up plan. I would head for where the main controls would be, in case they didn’t succeed. I would try and dismantle the coding enough that the ships were useless. Everyone was currently getting ready to head out in half an hour. Natasha asks if want to borrow a uniform, instead of answering I simply take my hoodie off. Her eyes widen at the sight of my gear, she nods and heads off to get dressed.

I wander outside, not liking being inside a building with no windows. I’m sitting on the bridges edge when I hear footsteps, my head snaps up. I see Steve, that being the name he preferred, his hands are raised as if to say “i'm not a threat”. He is wearing the clothes I had seen in the photo online. It is red, white and blue and matches his shield. 

"Hi" he says.

I nod back, still not used to the fact that I can talk freely now. 

"He's going to be there isn't he" he asks.

I know he means number 2, or Bucky, or James. Thinking to myself “man he has a lot of names for a man who hasn't had a name in almost 70 years”

"Yes, they won’t want anything to go wrong. Which I guess explains why they woke me up in the first place. They would send us in together, when they needed something to happen we never failed" I answer honestly.

"Their willing to let him go into it alone this time? Why not get you back first then do this" he asks.

" They don’t have time, it takes time to wake us up and wipe him to prep us for a mission. Then they have to send us through drills to make sure we haven't forgotten anything important, like how to fire a gun. All this before they give us our mission. When I escaped, my guess is they were waking us both up to prep us for this mission. But I made a break for it, they didn't have time to find me first. If they get these things in the air they won't have a problem finding me, so they are sending him in on his own. He's good on his own, we’re both better as a team though.” I think for a minute before asking the question nagging at me. "They aren't going to hurt him are they? "

Gesturing back to the building where everyone else was.

"Only if they don't have another option", he replies

He looked as worried as I feel. I can’t let anything happen to number 2 before I can save him. It was only because of him that I am sitting here talking to his childhood best friend.

"Then I'm coming with you" i say "I’m your best option to fight him, it's a long shot to get me into the control room without a badge any way"

He looks at me as if sizing me up.

"Look I know I look small, but in almost 70 years with him and thousands of training matches he's never been able to take me down in a fight. I know all of his weaknesses ,but they will have wiped him of his memory of fighting with me. I need to help him, he's the reason I'm here at all. He's had my back since he arrived, and I need to have his now. When he fails they won't take it kindly and he doesn't know how to fail. He will back one of you into a corner in which one of you has to kill him ,rather than fail a mission."

Steve nods and looks back at me. 

"Your right", is all he says.

Just then we hear everyone coming out of the building, I jump down and follow Steve over to them. They are loading into the car I had stolen and another car that was there.

"Change of plans, she will be with us on the helicarrier decks in case Bucky is there, she knows him best so she will fight him while we focus on getting the chips into place." He says gesturing at me.

Everyone looks at me and nods. It seemed they were willing to follow whatever Steve says, I’m grateful we won't waste time arguing the point. Natasha walked up to me, holding out a rifle. with a nod. I take it and we all climb into the cars.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I am driving the car I stole,with Steve, Maria and Sam. Natasha is in the other vehicle. She is going to be dealing with Pierce and everyone inside, while we take on the helicarriers.

After announcing to the whole building that we are here, and that we would be heading to the helicarriers, a stupid part of the plan in my opinion, we headed to the helicarriers. As soon as we step on the first one, bullets fly from every direction. 

Sam, Steve and I get split up, Sam sprouts an impressive pair of wings and takes to the air. I have to stop myself from staring at him, because seriously, he is flying! Steve takes off, throwing his shield at anything with a gun pointed at him. I wondered if that thing was magnetically meant to always come back to him, cause it always does. I manage to get into the helicarrier without much of a fight, everyone is focused on Sam and Steve. I Insert my chip. 

"Alpha lock." 

I speak into the headset Maria gave me before we split up. I can hear the others on the other end, soon I hear Sam, 

"Bravo lock." 

I hear Steve tell Sam he needs a lift, I get back up top just in time to see Steve take a leap off the side of the runway. Running full speed I send two guys flying off the edge after Steve, and put bullets in the other men who were shooting at him. Looking over the edge, I see Steve and Sam land on the third helicarrier, about 75 feet away. I see something flash in the sunlight, my blood runs cold. I back up, judging the distance between me and the other carrier. I run as fast as I can, and jump off of one carrier hoping to make it to the other. I hear over the headset when number 2 gets to Steve. I hear Sam yell just as I land on the carrier, stumbling a little from my momentum. I see number 2 kick Sam off the edge, before I can make it to them.

Unable to do anything to help Sam or Steve, I run at number 2 hoping Sam got his shoot open and that Steve can survive a fall like that. Using boxes that are stacked on the deck, I launch myself into the air at number 2. Landing my foot on his chest I send him flying back and into a crate that’s behind him. He gets up quickly. I have to remind myself that I’m not fighting a standard Hydra agent. I’m fighting someone who is as fast and strong as I am. He comes at me with inhuman speed, swinging his metal arm to connect with my head. Seeing it coming, I dodge, ducking low I send a kick to the back of his left leg, knowing he leaves it unguarded when he fights. He stumbles, obviously not expecting me to be much of a fight. He quickly gets over that idea and soon we were in an all out fight.

As I dodge another blow to my side, I hear Steve say he’s still on the carrier, I almost sigh in relief, till I see number 2 coming at me again. Shit now he’s pissed off, I think to myself as I use my short stature to slip under his guard and send a hit to his ribs. He has the advantage here, i’m trying not to hurt him, while he is really trying to kill me.  
Blocking hit after hit, taking any opening I can to land one to him. Suddenly I feel the ground under my feet vanish for the second time today, I realize what number 2 has been trying to do. He used my hesitation to hurt him to distract me, pushing me right up to the edge of the carrier. Is that a smug look a see on his face? I'm falling and have no way of stopping my decent. The water below is coming up too fast, before I can even think to angle my fall, I hit the water. Stinging blooms through my body, I have managed not to die, but shit, it hurts. I float to the bottom of the river before I can get my limbs to work again. Kicking for the surface, using any strength I can find in me. I brake the surface gasping in air. Turning I kick for the shore. Making it I fall into the mud on the bank.

"Steve, I'm sorry he kicked me off, I’m grounded and he's headed your way." I say

Hoping my headset still worked despite the water. I hear Steve, so I guess it does. I hear him talking, but not to any of us.

"A lot of people are going to die Bucky."

I want to rip my earpiece out, I didn't want to hear either of them get hurt. I can't though, I need to know what is going on, if I’m going to be of any help to anyone. After five agonizing minutes of hearing them fight it out I hear the order, I didn't want to hear.

"Do it."

"But Steve." I could hear the reservation in Marias voice

"Do it now." 

I watch, as the guns on the bottoms of the carriers started shooting at each other. They came crashing out of the sky one by one, until only one engine was running on the ship that Steve and Number 2 are on. Then I see a flash of red white and blue falling from the carrier, it’s his shield. What the hell? There is no way he let his shield go, right? not when facing an assassin even if it was his friend. Looking back up at the carrier, I see Steve falling. Looking where he fell from I see number 2, he’s hanging on one of the fallen beams. Then he lets go too. I run back into the water, looking desperately for either of them. All I come up with is Steve's shield, it weighs less than I expected. Hearing water splashing I look up and see them, Number 2 is pulling Steve out of the water. I run over to them, not knowing if Number 2 is planning on taking Steve to Hydra, if he was saving him, or pulling him out to kill him easier on land. As I come closer, Number 2 turns. He is holding his flesh arm like it’s hurt and looks lost, but he looks at me and mumbles

"Number 1?"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
I start laughing, I don't even know why. Just the sound of him saying my name, remembering me, not trying to kill me has me laughing.

The sound is foreign to me, I couldn't remember the last time I laughed. The sound dies when I hear Steve cough from the ground. Scrambling over to him, I see that he is bloody, bruised and had what looks like bullet wounds in several places. I put pressure on his leg wound, since the one to his back doesn't look like I could touch it without making it worse. Looking up I locate the helicopter Natasha, Fury and now Sam are in, from the path they are taking they must be looking for us. Knowing that Steve needs medical attention quickly but knowing that the longer Number 2 and I stay here the more likely we are to be caught. Finally, I hear Natasha on my head piece asking where Steve is.

" He's here Natasha, on the north bank. Multiple gunshot wounds and a hell of a lot of bruising.”

Soon I see the helicopter turn this way, I know they will find him. We can't stay out in the open like this. I grab a stick and write the email Jennifer helped me create into the mud.   
Number 2 has been watching me the whole time. Not knowing if he wants to help, or run, or grab me and get the hell away, I look at him and say,

"We need to go" 

He flinches. “Back to the base?" ,he asks looking disappointed.

"What?" 

I remember he has broken the block that kept him from remembering me, but he thought I was still Hydra and that I wanted to go back to our handlers.

"Hell no, I mean we need to go if we want to stay free, I don't plan on going back so lets get a move on." 

Leading the way we walk through the line of trees between the water and the road. In the distance I can see an ambulance, with what looks like Steve on a rolling table. Knowing he was safe and getting help now, I move quickly up to the nearest car. Picking the lock and throwing open the passengers side door, I flick my head to let Number 2 know to move his ass. In a few seconds we have the car running and the heater going full blast. Since we both an unexpected dive into the river, we are both soaking wet.

We drive West, going over the river and looking at the destruction we just caused. Heading into Arlington, I hadn’t been expecting to have everything happen today, I’d left almost everything back at my abandoned house. Parking a few blocks away i get out, I hear Number 2s door open and his boots hit the gravel.

"You should stay here I'll be back as soon as I grab everything." i don’t want to risk both of us if anyone discovered the house.

"No" is all he says.

I give up knowing both, that he is the most stubborn thing I've ever met, and that it would waste time arguing. I need to get the small amount of stuff I have and get away from this city. Who knows how many people are Hydra. With both Number 2 and me gone how would they rebuild? I shake my head trying to dislodge the thought, as we make our way through the backyards until we reach mine. I didn't want Hydra to rebuild, though I figured they would.” Cut off one head, 2 more will take its place” it's not like they made it their mantra for nothing. Others have tried and at times it looks like Hydra would fall, but it always came back. It was just the training,and the brainwashing that has me worried about them now, and i know it.

"We’re here” I whisper to Number 2. 

I pry open the window that I had come to use as my door and slide in. Listening I hear no heartbeats besides my own and Number 2s. With him at my back, ready for a fight we did a sweep of the house, just in case. We found no one so I run back downstairs and into the room I was using, grabbing the backpack by the door, I started throwing things into it. First the laptop, i need Jennifer, I still forget words when talking and she is helping me relearn them. Then the file, I had forgotten about ‘till halfway to Washington DC in the beginning. I stopped to go to the bathroom and realize that the file, I had stolen, was still hidden in the waist of your pants. Somehow it had not fallen out which I was grateful for. Still I couldn't bring myself to look at what was inside, knowing it would likely detail all the experiments they had performed on me. I didn't think I could take reliving them but I threw it into the back pack as well. The meager amount of clothes I had found went in next. I tossed Number 2 one of my extra large hoodies. We both needed to blend in, and right now we stand out.

Throwing mine over my head I looked over at Number 2 who is still holding his arm. I realized it must be dislocated from the way he is holding it. Moving over to his side I grab his arm, he looks at me but nods, he knows what was coming, we have done it for each other more times than either can count. I grip his arm and wrench it up in one quick motion hearing a loud pop when it finds its spot. Testing it by swinging it back and forth he nods and flings his own hoodie over his tac gear. I grab all the food I can fit into the bag and zip it shut, that’s it then. I realize this was it. Number 2 was free, I was free I walk up to Number 2, 

"We’re a team, yeah?" I ask.

He nods in response.

"Then we have each other's back, no matter what? Hydra wants us back, but no matter what we stand by each other just like we always have?" 

He nods and I nod back, and that was that. There was no need for the sentimental crap that Steve had done with his team before we attacked the helicarriers. We both know what the consequences of being caught are, neither of us is going to let that happen. With that I swing the backpack over my back and we sneak back to the car we had taken.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
We drove West for a while wanting to put some space between us and what had gone down in Washington. I saw a sign for New York, remembering that there was a tower in New York named Avengers Tower and that the internet said that Steve was an avenger, I decided we would head for new york. The drive was quiet, neither of us spoke, and we just watch in case of an attack. We aren't going to let our guard down since we knew that the minute we thought we were safe was the minute we were caught. Too many times for me to count, we had followed our target till they thought they were safe and then taken their life.   
We reach New York around 1 in the morning I drive us out to Queens. Knowing that New York City is too dangerous to be in, we drive around a bit looking for escape routes and somewhere to stop. We ditch the car in a parking garage and walk till we reach what looks like an abandoned business building. Going inside we choose an office in the back that gives a quick escape to the ally in the back. Sitting on the floor we both just sit. Opening my backpack, I take out some of the protein bars I had managed to snag every time I went into a store, and throw 4 over to Number 2 I know he had taken a beating today and needed time and energy to heal.

"Sleep" I told him, "I'll take first watch and wake you in 2 hours to switch".

He nods and finishes the last bar before leaning back to the wall and closing his eyes. There isn’t much to watch for so I pull out my laptop. After opening it and putting the password in I look at the wifi connection options. There is Wi-Fi in the building next to us so I bypass the password and connect. Not really sure what I am going to do, I open a search window and type in Avengers Tower. 

" Miss you have a new email" Jennifer says.

So I quickly open my email and see one from an unknown sender. Opening it, it is from Natasha. She had seen the email in the mud and thankfully one of them knew enough to encrypt an email. I look up and see Number 2 looking at me, it is time to talk about our plan.

"We need a plan" he says plainly.

His voice is scratchy like mine but I pay it no mind.

"I think I have one but we’re going to have to trust other people" I tell him.

 

A frown takes over his face, as it hardens I say,

"Look, we need help, neither of us can remember enough to survive out here alone. We can’t fight our own minds and Hydra, we need help".

"Who?" he asks. 

“Do you remember the man from the helicarrier with the shield?” He nods. 

“He and his friends can help and they want to.”

“I don't trust them." 

Well, neither do I really, if I'm honest with myself, but we need help and I don't know any other people to go to.

“ I don't know anyone else, do you?" I ask knowing the answer. He just glares at me.  
"That's my point, until a week ago I didn't even know what year it is, but Steve helped me save you and I trust that he wants to help us and he's vouched for his friends but i'm not going anywhere without you so we need to make a choice"I say, while trying to read his face.

I knew that was impossible, neither one of us shows any emotion. 

"If anything happens we run and we keep running til we're safe" is all he says and he leans his head back again.

Internally smiling I turn back to my computer and send a message back telling Natasha we will be at the tower as soon as we can. I'm not sure that was going to be very soon. We can't just walk up to the tower. New York has more cameras than any city in America. Deciding to use the rest of my time on watch figuring out how we are going to get there, i settle back and get to work. I wake Number 2 up an hour later and explain the options for getting to the tower.

"We can take a cab but i don't like getting into a car where someone else is in charge of where we go”, I explain. He nods in agreement " So I think we should walk it. It’s 11 miles from where we are to the tower and this route is the only one where we don't have to take a ferry." I show him the map that Jennifer had helped me create. He looks at me like he thinks this is a bad idea but again nods. 

We pack up everything I had unpacked and wait for the sun to rise. Hydra would expect us to travel at night and wouldn't be looking as hard during the day, so we decide to use the foot traffic during the day to blend in and hide us. As soon as we start seeing more people out walking to work and school we leave out the back and sneak through the alleys making sure to be out of camera view or with a group of people. We had thrown the hoods on our jackets up to hide our face the best we could. 

Soon we reach the Queensboro bridge. Glancing quickly at Number 2, I step out onto the bridge knowing that this is the most exposed part of the trip. Number 2 walks about 20 feet behind me, far enough that we don't look like we are traveling together but close enough to have the others back should something happen. We make it across the river and find ourselves looking up at the skyline of Manhattan. There is no option, but to take the main streets. The alleys would have been more conspicuous so we set out at a quick pace making sure to stay in the groups of people when we can. 

Soon we reach the corner of Park Avenue and are looking up at the Avengers Tower. We don't linger long but hurry up to the doors and walk inside the lobby area. At that point my plan runs out. How are we supposed to get from the ground floor past the many floors of Stark Industries and up to the living levels? We both wander over to the far side of the lobby and watch, trying to figure out how to get up the tower. We don't have a phone or Steves phone number. Walking up to the guards seem like a very bad idea so we watch for about 15 minutes and notice all the workers scanning their badges to get into the elevator area. With one look at Number 2 I know we’re both thinking the same thing. With a practiced precision we both turn to find our targets. Number 2 finds a man distracted by his phone going off and snags the badge sitting on the top of his pile of papers. I find a woman who is talking to her friend and grab the badge off her belt where she clipped it. In less than a minute we lock eyes and move to the security point flashing the face of the badge over the scanner. I walk past. Seconds later I see Number 2 do the same. We stand in front of one of the elevators as if we are any other workers .Soon one dings. When we get into it I mash the door close button and thankfully it closes before anyone else gets on.

Looking at the button panel I realize we don't even know what floor to go to, so we just go to the top, figuring we can find a staircase and work our way back down till we find Steve or Natasha. When the doors open we realize it has not, in fact, taken us to the top floor but to one in the middle and of course the elevator to the top floors isn't going to be one where any employee can get into it. We exit and see a sign for stairs so we quietly open the door and sneak in. The stairs go up. So glancing at number 2 we start up. A door slamming shut some floors down has both of us crouching and pulling out our guns. Shaking my head to dislodge the idea of attack we work our way up the stairs. Thankfully both of us had had the same thing done to us, so when we had gone up another 12 floors neither of you are even winded. Deciding we need to know where we are, I pull the handle on the door marked 68. It’s locked. Moving aside I let number 2 pick it. He is faster and has his picking set out before I even turned around. A few seconds later I hear the lock click and ready myself while number 2 opens the door.

What I see when it opens makes me gasp. I am looking at some kind of sitting room with large glass windows that overlook the city. Looking around I see couches set up in a small living rooms and a small kitchen. I venture further out, with Number 2 covering my back till I was sure no one was in the room.Straightening up I look at Number 2 I can try and connect my laptop and send Natasha another message telling her where to find us or we can go back to the stairs and try another floor. We had either gone up to far or not far enough since it didn't look like anyone lived here. Turning I hear a voice.

 

"Welcome to stark tower you are in a restricted section please follow the lighted arrows to the elevator."

I look around ready to shoot whoever was talking, only to see nothing and hear no heartbeats or breathing. Looking at Number 2, both our faces say ”who the fuck was that” but we remain still waiting for the person who talked to appear

“I have alerted Mr. Stark that you are here please make your way to the elevator and back down to your floors Mr.Elker and Mrs. Fresta.”

Remembering the names on the stolen badge I realize that he thinks we are employees who snuck up here. Noticing the slight electronic sound to the voice this time I ask

"Who are you?"

”I am Jarvis" says the voice

"What are you" I ask more pointedly.

"I am a computer generated AI created by Mr Stark to run his household" it replies .

Looking over at number 2 I point at my backpack to explain it was like Jennifer, only it seems more advanced he looks up at the ceiling and back at me I shrug and asked what we need to know

"We’re looking for Steve Rogers, where do we find him?"

Jarvis responds “ He is down one floor Mrs Fresta. If you would like a meeting with him,I can inform him you need a moment of his time"

"No its ok we will go to him,he's expecting us"

I don't like the idea of the computer announcing us so we followed the glowing arrows on the floor to the elevator and throwing all common sense out the window climb in.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long to post but here is the next chapter

Chapter 12  
Once the doors close I feel the floor move, a few seconds later the doors open with a small ding that sounded more like an alarm bell announcing our presence. What is with the people in this time wanting to announce to everyone where they are? I thought to myself, once again. I take the lead and step off the elevator with Number 2 at my back, ready if anything happens. From somewhere up ahead. I hear a voice.

" Really Tony haven't you given up trying to explain your new invention to me? If I haven't gotten it by now I don't think I'm going to."

I move towards the voice. Coming around a corner, I see Steve, he’s sitting in a chair facing the window writing on something in his lap. Once I recognized him I relax a little 

"Sorry Steve, I don’t think we’re Tony". He jumps up turning to face us with a look of shock. 

"Bucky" was all he said. 

Remembering that that's the name he calls Number 2, I turn to look at him and notice his shoulders have dropped and his face has gone blank, but that isn't what causes me to jump into action. The look in his eyes is cold and dark, it’s the look of number 2 on a mission. With a jolt, I remember that Steve was given to him as a target, and we were not trained to forget a target.

"Steve run!" is all I get out before Number 2 lunges at him. I jump in front of Steve and take the brunt of Number 2s shoulder to .my ribs trying to think what to do, I had just basically given the target to a man who was hell bent on completing the mission. Number 2 takes off down the hall after Steve I'm only a step behind him, thinking fast I come up with an idea. This would either stop him or end very bad for me. I kick out and catch Number 2s shoe with my own, he stumbles but doesn't fall. I realize too late that I just made myself an obstacle in the way of his mission. I duck as his arm comes up to connect with my face, only to see his gun come up to meet me. He uses the gun to knock me back I feel the pain across my jaw, “shit I forgot how bad a hit from him felt” but I know that he feels the same. So ignoring the pain in my jaw I strike out with my elbow, catching the underside of his chin. Quickly before he can make a move I go in and lock my arm around his neck. I feel his metal arm come up and start to pry my arm away. I knee him in the side, feeling his ribs break He pauses just long enough for me to pin his metal arm under my leg. but his flesh arm is still free and he is using it to land punch after punch to my side. I feel my ribs give way but don’t let up until he stills under my arm. Letting go I slide back looking at him,

“Well shit what do I do now?” I say softly just as Steve comes running around a corner with his shield in hand.He stops and looks at his unconscious friend and me leaning against the wall blood coming from where the gun connected with my jaw .

"Sorry I didn't think about you being his mission, and that that brings out the Hydra side of him"

I know it sounds stupid and I feel stupid, how had that not occurred to me? he shrugs.

"What do we do now? Is he going to wake up and try again?" he asks.

"Probably, we aren't trained to forget a mission. So is there a room that is secure that I can talk to him in?" he nods and moves forward. Out of instinct to protect number 2 my gun jumps up causing Steve to stop. I lower the gun "Sorry habits are hard to break and I haven't had a lot of time to break them".

With a small smile he replies, "A habit to protect is one I know well"

He stoops down to grab Number 2’s arm. Standing I wince and grab my side. He looks at me but I ignore it and grab number 2’s other arm. Together with Steve leading, we come to a room, it looks like a gym of sorts. 

" It's got locking doors and is built to withstand the hulk bashing on it"

I don’t understand but nod. We lay number 2 down on the floor.

"He will be awake soon and I need to talk to him before he sees you again."

Steve looks sad but just sighs and turns around. After the door closes I walk over but can’t see how it locks. I almost give up, when I remember Jarvis the AI that seems to run the building 

"Uh Jarvis" I say, feeling silly talking to a wall.

"Yes Ms", comes his smooth voice. 

"How do I lock the door?"

“I have locked the door ma’am if you wish to unlock it simple tell me and I will do it". I nod but I’m not sure if a computer would understand that gesture so I say "Thank you".

Walking back over to number 2 I sit gently next to him. My ribs hurt but nothing I haven't felt before. Using a towel I found in a stack by the door, I put it over my jaw, stemming the blood flow coming from it. Soon I can feel it scabbing over. 5 min later Number 2s eyes shoot open. He sits up and looks at me. I know this is the number 2 who is my partner.

"Who" is all he says 

I know he means who caused the now purple bruise on my jaw. Looking at him I can't think what to say so as usual I just say it simply. "You"’,his brows furrows at that "I got in the way of your target. I didn't think about Steve being a target and it triggering you" .

He looks at me, then around the room. I'm thankful he hasn't tried to apologize, since I felt it was my fault.

"2" I say. He looks at me.

I know I need to convince the soldier inside him that the mission is over but don't like the only way I know to do it.

"I need to trigger the soldier” I say, hoping he will understand.

Was that worry, I just saw in his eyes? Before I could really look it was gone, and Number 2 nods. Standing up, I test my ribs in case this goes bad again. They seem to have healed enough. Number 2 stands in front of me with a blank expression on his face. I take a deep breath because I have never done this, only been there when it was done. I say the ten words I knew would trigger the soldier to come out after the final one he opens his eyes. They were blank no life showing in them. 

“Ready to comply”, comes out with no emotion. Taking the role as his handler this time I speak with as much authority as I can.

"The mission is aborted, Steve Rogers is no longer a target,.” blank eyes is the only response I get. So I hope it worked. Now I am faced with a new problem, there is no such thing as deactivation words. Telling him to sit, I walk around trying to figure out what to do. I know I need to trigger him into a memory to bring back out the man. I decided to tell him everything I learned about him from searching the web.

"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes. You were born March 10, 1917. You served in World War 2 alongside Steve Grant Rogers"

I start listing off facts I’d learned but they aren't doing anything. Maybe I can't trigger his past life, but maybe I can trigger the partner I know.

 

"Do you remember the last time we were awake? We were tracking the target through half of Europe, When we were in France you told me you always wanted to ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower" 

Silence but something flashes in his eyes. Finally after what feels like ages he says, "You told me I was too big to fit in the elevator". 

I laugh and look up to see those blue eyes with life again and feel the relief flood through my body.

"Well it's true you’re built like a tank", I say.

An almost smile playing across his mouth. "Did it work?" I ask.

He nods meaning he no longer feels like Steve was a mission. Good cause I didn't have a plan B if it hadn’t. He reaches his hand out and taking it I pull myself up and turn toward the doors. Pausing, I turn back around. 

"What should I call you?" I ask him.

He looks up at me, "What".

"Well for a man who doesn't have a name you have a lot of names James, Bucky, Sergeant Barnes, Barnes." I list off all the names I had learned he went by before Hydra. He is silent for a moment and thinks about it.

 

"James, I would like to be James". I nod and stick out my hand like I had seen others do "Nice to meet you James". He takes my hand and shakes it.

"What about you” he asks.

Oh right, I still don’t know my name, unlike him I don't have any names to choose from but before I can dwell on that too much, I just say, "One is fine for now."He nods and I know he remembers. I don't remember my name. Not wanting to continue this line of conversation. I turn around.

"Jarvis unlock the door please." 

The door swings open. We walk out again. It seems James has decided to let me take charge, though I know that if anything so much as hints at being a threat he will not hesitate to jump into action. We walk slowly, taking in every exit route and anything that could house a threat. Coming back into the living area of the floor I see Steve waiting on the couch the paper he had been writing on sitting again in his lap. Seeing us he stands up though he seems a little more reserved than when we first showed up. Standing there in silence I keep thinking someone should say something but no one says anything so we just stand there.

"Well this is full of awkward tension" I hear another voice, this time knowing it belongs to Natasha seeing the redhead coming around the corner I give her a look that says “yes thank you that's helping.”

"Uh, why don't you guys sit down and you can catch us up on what we need to do" Steve suggests .

 

Looking around, no one moves so I step forward and sit on the edge of the couch closest to me. James does the same and soon we are all sitting in silence 

"How is this an improvement from standing silently?” I ask to no one in general.

Natasha laughs and Steve cracks a smile. I turn to look at James and he's giving me a death glare that all but screams “shut up and die” shrugging I look back at Steve and ask " What do you want to know?" 

Steve is too busy looking at James to even hear me so its Natasha who answers,”Why don't you tell us how we can help?"

I think about it for a moment and hold up a finger, silently asking for a moment. I pull out my laptop and type in the command to shut down all monitoring devices in the vicinity, before looking up and beginning to talk. 

"Right now we are a danger not only to other people but to ourselves.We went through a lot of what they called conditioning, we are trained to return to hydra and do what they say," I say looking at Natasha. "We don't want to hurt anyone and we don't want to go back. I think I can undo some of the damage to our minds but not while we're running from Hydra because right now they will be looking for us harder than ever, but I also need materials and resources"

There is a ding from the elevator, going on high alert both James and I launch to places of cover. A second later a man comes in, "Something is going on with Jarvis and security, He can’t get into your floor and every camera on the connecting 5 floors has gone out,” the man says, not looking up from the tablet he’s carrying.

"Bucky, One you can come out,I promise he's a friend"

Coming from around a corner James comes out. Coming up from behind the couch I stand. We have the man with the tablet’s attention. Looking at us he says. "I don't think they are to blame for the security issue" and looks back down. 

"One, do you know why he's having problems with his monitoring systems" Natasha asks me.

I nod, the new man looks very confused. 

"How? no one can override Jarvis."

I open my laptop again the new man rushes over looking at what I did to override his AI, he looks up at me with more excitement. 

"You built an AI program on this computer?" I nod. 

"Tony, these are our friends One, and Bucky, the ones we told you about, and said they would be coming here for help" 

"But you didn't tell me they were tech geniuses", he says bouncing a little. He goes to pick up my laptop only to find James’ hand stopping him. "Its hers" is all he says and Tony backs up 

"All right tin man.” looking at Steve he asks “what's going on?" 

They talk quietly, over to the side, while I work on my computer, trying to limit the area of security breach. I hadn't meant to affect so much of the tower but Jennifer shutdown anything within about 60 feet. Pretty soon Jarvis speaks up "Sir I am restored to all areas of the tower, though my visual is still down."

The man named Tony looks at me.

"Sorry I didn't mean to affect so much of the tower", I tell him.

Rather than looking mad, he just looks at me with respect.

"Well you certainly have a way with technology and Capsicle here says you need equipment. You have come to the right place. Welcome to Avengers Tower", he says “follow me”.

He heads over to the elevator. I grab my bag and laptop. I stand to follow as if given an order. James grabs my arm, looking back he says "That wasn't an order you don't have to follow"

Realizing I had slipped back into “asset who follows blindly” I stop, looking at James then Natasha and Steve then nod, " I want to go, I think I know how to undo some of the damage and if he built Jarvis he can help" James nods and makes to follow me. 

"You don't have to come you can stay here", I say.

He looks at me "We’re a team, no matter what, we have each others backs" 

With that he sets off after Tony, with me following closely behind. I hadn't noticed Natasha and Steve following us till we all filed into the elevator.

"Wow this is what it takes to get Capsickle into my lab", Tony says as the doors close.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

 

As the doors open, I can't help the little gasp that escapes. When Tony said lab I had expected something like what Hydra called a lab. Lots of computers, tables with straps to hold down the patient, and men in lab coats walking around. What I find instead is a large room with windows all the way around. I can tell from the slight tint to them that they are one way windows so we could see outside but no one can see in. Machines everywhere, designs scattered on every counter and no straps on the lab tables. Tony leads the way out of the elevator talking animatedly with Steve who all but ignores him. James and I leave the elevator last, both of us looking around trying to take everything in, but there was just too much to take in before Tony stops and turns to me.

"You said you needed equipment but you didn't explain what kind. Do you have a specific design in mind?" Tony asks me. 

I take my backpack off and reach inside grabbing the rough sketches I had worked on while I was in Arlington.

"I need to build this" I say "all the materials I will need are on the back" 

He takes the sketches and looks at them. Looking up he asks "what is this going to do when your done?"

"The machine they use to wipe James of his memories works with a computer to pick out the specific times or days they want him to forget. Then they put a sort of mental block in, it's why he can still get flashes of memories that aren't removed. They're simply blocked. If I can build this I can rewrite the code to undo the mental blocks and the memories will be able to be accessed again" I explain.

He nods and I look at James who is looking at me with what I think is hope in his eyes. As I look around I notice that Steve has the exact same look, only he is practically bouncing with his excitement. Looking back to Tony I say " I don't have any money so I can't order the parts I need, but I can scavenge junk yards and electronic stores for what I need"

At this Steve looks at Tony and practically begs with the way he says "Tony" 

Tony looks at me shocked and says "No, money won't be a problem and I'll have the parts here within the hour". 

Shocked I just stare at him, that list isn’t going to be cheap and I hadn't expected them to just give me the equipment, just help me find where I could scavenge it. Understanding the shock on my face Tony continued, " This is an important machine and an amazing design, I’m more than happy to help with its creation". 

Deciding not to ask any questions, I pull out the notebook I have been making sketches of other designs and ideas in and hand it to Tony.

"I can trade these, they are things I thought about when my brain would hit a block with the design for the chair".He takes my notebook with excitement and starts flipping through the pages noting each design. "I won't take the trade", he finally says closing the notebook.   
Seeing my expression he continues quickly,"Because these designs are amazing and you deserve credit for them". Looking back up I feel shocked, I have never been told my designs are anything. My handlers simply take the designs they requested and destroy anything else without looking at it. But here is someone telling me that I deserved credit for them and they were good. I don't know what to say so I just take the notebook back wondering how I will be able to repay him for helping me, if I can’t trade my designs with him. 

"Jarvis scan her designs for the chair and order everything" he spoke smoothly to the AI.

"Yes sir", came back "everything will be here within the hour"

"I don't know your name”. Tony spoke to me.

Thinking back I realize he didn't remember being introduced or didn't think my name was One.

"I don’t have one sir, but they call me One so you can if you want" I answer quietly. 

"Please no, sir, I'm not even sure I like Jarvis calling me sir" he says laughing slightly "You don't have a name?" he asks.

"I did once but I don't remember it", I explain. Natasha speaks for the first time since entering the lab."Would you like a name? We were a little preoccupied the last time we were with you but we should have asked" she says looking at me. She speaks with a softness I don't understand, her voice still stirring something in my memory that I can't place.

"I think I would", I reply.

"Oh we get to pick a name?" Tony says bouncing with excitement.

"No, you don’t Tony", says Steve quickly. "You will name her mach 200 or something". 

I shake my head, I don't like that as a name, though I guess it would be better than One, but I still don't like it. I look at James who is watching me, he says "Alexis". Suddenly I'm not in the lab anymore I’m sitting on a rooftop playing a game with Number 2. A game that we had played a hundred times before. We try to guess what the other’s name was before Hydra. I hate playing the game because it is so useless, neither of us can remember anything so even if we guessed right, we wouldn't know. It usually lead to punishment when we got back to the base, They often listened to us on missions, but this time they hadn't put mics on us so I was happily playing the game to pass time, waiting for the target. Number 2 was currently listing off names for me "Mary, Dorothy, Barbara, Nancy" he listed off. I shake my head at all the names not liking any of them. 

"Alexis"

"Wait I like that one" I stop him, " if I got to pick my name I would pick Alexis" I say

He smiles "I think it fits you, though I think I'll call you Alex" and just as suddenly I’m right back in the lab looking at the present James. I nod smiling " I like that, if I get to pick my name, I pick Alexis" He smiles and I know he is remembering that same night on the rooftop.

"Alexis, I like it", Tony says.

Natasha for some reason was grinning from ear to ear, and Steve stuck out his hand just like I did when james picked his name."It's nice to meet you Alexis" grinning just as big I grabbed his hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you too". 

About 20 min later jarvis speaks."Sir the equipment has arrived would you like it sent to up to your lab?”

Tony rolls his eyes but says,"Yes".

Soon I hear another ding coming from the far side of the lab, James and I stiffen at the sound. Maybe it isn't such a bad thing to have something announce the arrival of people, it would be hard for someone to sneak up on us. Watching as several large men roll in crate after crate, filling one of the windowed walls with them, I start to wonder how many crates there are when one of the men turns to Tony trying to hand him a clipboard. Natasha steps forward "He doesn't like being handed things". Grabbing the clipboard she signs a signature I knew couldn't be hers. I look closer, she signed Tony Stark on the paper. Something about the name Stark sends a tingling through my memory. I am getting really sick of knowing there is something there that I just can't remember. I’m hoping that if the machine works I can program it to stimulate my memory so maybe I can remember more about my past.

The men leave through the elevator as they had come and everyone looks at me. Now comes the hard part, asking Tony for his help but I can't explain what I need his help with. Looking at Tony, I try my best “Can you help me?" I ask bluntly, internally cringing at how stupid it sounds, " sometimes I forget what i'm doing or saying, my memory isn't reliable"

He looks at me and starts to smile, "I'll be glad to help" .

I smile back, proud that I managed to get out what I needed to say. I walk over to the boxes and start making a map in my head so I know which boxes have what and which ones I will need first. Prying open the box, I would need first, I marveled at the quality of the parts . Hydra had always given me what I needed for their machines, but I’d never had materials of this quality.   
Tony grabs my designs looking at them, I hear him ask, "Jarvis give me a manipulatable projection" 

A blue light scans over all my drawings that he had spread out over the top of other designs on the work benches. Seconds later I am looking at a glowing blue image floating in the middle of the room. I walk around to see it from every angle. My arm accidently slices through the edge of one of my drawings but it doesn’t even glitch. In awe I look at it. "Cast it into a 3D model Jarvis" Tony says.

I watch as the many parts of the machine I had drawn go from being sketches to looking like actual parts and then piece themselves together. Sitting in front of me is a 3 dimensional image of the chair I’m hoping to create. I feel more than see James tense at the image, knowing it looks exactly like the chair they used to wipe him. I decide to try and lessen its resemblance. 

“Jarvis can you change the design of the chair without changing the function?" I ask.

"Yes ms"

The image in front of me changes, it doesn't look anything like the chair that had just been there instead it’s now a padded chair with a high back. I can see that the parts that fit around the head would come around the sides and even their design was slightly different, not covering any part of the face but still allowing access to the part of the brain affected. I look back over at James and notice that the tension has lessened. Figuring that was the best I was going to be able to do, since he still knew what the chair was going to do, I set out to get building. Grabbing the parts I need to build the base of the chair itself first, I’ll work on the electrical components later. Tony grabs as many items as he can as well and when he calls out "Dum-e"

I look at him confused, until a little robotic arm comes wheeling into view. 

"Grab the stuff out of this box and bring them over to work section number 3.”

2 hours later we have the chair part put together, but that is the easy part. I know the electronics need to be perfect or they will risk doing damage. Tony sat down while I finished putting the final parts into place. James had taken to sitting in one of the chairs scattered around the lab, Steve not far from him. Natasha wandered off muttering about other things she needed to do. I knew James wouldn't leave, we were never more than a few feet away from each other which had proven to be a good thing when the robotic arm called Dum-e accidently dropped a pile of pipes. They would have gone crashing into my legs, if James had not caught them. Pulling me out from under the chair by my ankle I am surprised to see Tony looking at James with shock and James looking down at me holding an arm full of pipes.

“Did I miss something?" I ask James. I knew I had a tendency to get lost in my own world when I work on a project and worried that someone had said something, when steve spoke up " Just Bucky sprinting across the lab to stop you from losing your legs" 

Looking up at James I understood the others shock. I’ve seen James run and it’s faster than any normal human. I also understand the look in James eyes he just revealed to Tony and Steve that he isn’t just a normal human. Standing up I turn to Steve and try to figure out how to explain.

"Hydra did something to us" I begin "a long time ago, they did something to make us better. Since then we can run faster, see almost perfectly in light or dark and heal at a much faster rate" Steve looks over at James and back at me, but it is Tony who speaks. 

"They pumped you full of the same vitamins they gave Cap?" 

He said it like a question, but since I didn't know what he meant, I just looked over at Steve and it clicks. He had survived being kicked by James on the helicarrier, he had survived fighting with him, and then survived the same fall I took and I remembered how bad hitting the water had hurt. "You’re enhanced?" is all I can say.

Steve looks at me and replies "Yeah I guess that's one way to put it but I didn't think there were any others like me. They only managed to create me before the doctor who did it was killed".

I understand, he must have been the prototype for what they did to us. 

"Mine is different from James' he came to them with a version of it already in his system and then they added more to it. Mine was created by the men in lab coats" I told them "I'm not sure what yours did but ours was to make it safer for us to go in and out of cryo so often without it taking a toll on our bodies and so that we could handle harsher environments. longer without sleep, more pain, more programming" I finish darkly. James nods still holding the pipes as if they don't weigh more than a single human should be able to hold alone. Tony finally seeming to break out of his shock tells James, "You can set those down right here" pointing at the side of his chair, turning back to me "They told us that no one ever figured out how to recreate the serum. The only one coming close was Dr. Banner, but it didn't work out." 

Shaking my head "They have been trying to perfect it for longer than I can remember, every few months for a while they would wake either James or me to test their new serum." 

I remembered the pain of the injections better than I remembered anything else in my past. It wasn't just injections, they had tested my eyesight in every form of lighting, they had shot, cut, stabbed and broken my bones to test how fast I would heal. They had put me in the chair for longer times than ever before testing how long I could last before I broke. I knew they did the same things with James because I’d seen them comparing our results. "They never seemed to get it to where they wanted but I can remember being injected with blue liquid 6 times" 

James spoke up. "I remember 5". 

Steve spoke this time with a curious expression "How can either of you remember how many times?" James beat me to the answer, 

"Because you don't forget something that painful". Suddenly Jennifer speaks, causing everyone to jump having forgotten that my computer was even open, "The part of the brain that experiences extreme amounts of pain is located in the parietal lobe and is not part of the area the machine erasses."

"They didn't mind us remembering pain. It helped them in fact, they got to experiment and punish us at the same time" I added.

Looking horrified Steve can't take his eyes off of James. Tony had stopped making eye contact with me awhile ago so I don't know what to do and just go back to finishing the basic chair and preparing for the electrical. 

Coughing catches my attention, "We have been working for a while, why don't we go get some food?" Tony said, while looking at the next part of your design.

I realize that I can now eat whenever I want and don't have to wait for the guards to bring me food when they remembered. I look at James and can read the same thing in his eyes, we are both starving having had only a few protein bars and nowhere near enough food to hold up our metabolisms but being used to not eating I hadn't been bothered. I look sheepishly up at Tony.

"We tend to eat quite a bit. the main thing they were trying to stop with the injections was the amount of food we needed to eat" he laughs and looks over at me, "So you'll be eating like Cap does?" Looking at Steve I see he is laughing too" What he means is about 4 regular helpings" I nod and he just gestured to follow him. He leads us to the elevator and back up to a floor that looked a bit more spacious. It doesn't have any bedrooms just a large living room, kitchen, and the biggest table I have ever seen. It looks like it could sit about 20 people. Then the smells hit me and my mouth starts watering. James taking the lead for the first time since we arrived. He almost sprints ahead. Turning the corner at the same time as Steve and inhaling deeply. “Tomato and hamburger soup" James whispers.

I come around the corner to see a strawberry blond turn to look at everyone.

“Yeah Steve gave me the recipe and asked me to make it" she said smiling. I couldn't figure out how James had known or why he was looking so excited. In fact now that I thought about it I didn't think I’d ever seen him excited. 

"I know it used to be your favorite and thought I would ask Pepper to make it, since I still can't cook to save my life" Steve says to James as he made his way over to the table and gestured that both of us should sit.

Looking at the table I guess where everyone will probably sit and choose a seat one chair away from everyone. James sits across from me with Steve next to him. Tony pulls the chair out at the head of the table and plops down. Pepper comes over with a large pot and sets it down on the table. Turning around and she asks, "Jarvis please tell Natasha and Sam that diner in done and if they want any they better get out of the gym and up here."

Grabbing a large basket of bread she turned back around and sits down on Tony’s left. Moments later I hear the tell tell sound of the elevator and Natasha arguing. As she rounds the corner Pepper tells them to "Grab the other bowl sitting on the counter".

Sam grabs it and sat it down on the table as well. I hadn't been expecting Natasha or Sam so what I thought would place me on the outside of the group wound up placing me between them. Sam on my right and Natasha on my left. I look over at James who is sitting just as stiff as I am, obviously just as uncomfortable.

"Dig in" is all Pepper says.

Steve dives for the pot while everyone else reaches for one of the rolls or whatever was in the second basket James and I just sit watching. Not knowing what to do really. Someone nudges my arm I looked over at Sam who is offering me one of the things from the bowl. I don't recognise what it is and keep looking at it trying to guess what it is.

"Its cornbread", James says. Then snaps his mouth shut looking surprised and confused. Not knowing what cornbread is, I just sit it on the plate in front of me. Looking up I see that James is having a bowl slid in front of him and with a start I realize Sam is putting one in front of me. Giving him a small smile I turned back to observe everyone else. Steve is already spooning some of the soup into his mouth. Sam and Tony are practically inhaling the cornbread and Natasha is picking at a roll. Glancing at James I could tell he is waiting for me to start, though I don't know why. 

The food looks safe enough and everyone is eating it, so I pick up my spoon. Looking around at the woman named Pepper I see her taking small spoons full instead of the giant ones Steve was doing and decided to follow her lead. I take a small spoonful and bring it to my mouth. It smells good which I didn't even know food could do. Most of the food hydra gave us was flavorless, only meant to provide energy. As I put the spoon in my mouth I know I have been missing out cause, damn that was good. Quickly going for another bite and before I know it the bowl is empty. Looking up I noticed James had finished his as well and has started on the thing called cornbread. Picking up you piece I break a small piece off and eat it. It was sweet, which was a surprise but I liked it. Pretty soon I had finished the piece and looked around again. No one was looking at me so I took the opportunity to look at everyone else. They were all relaxed and talked to each other. Tony is arguing with Steve over letting him upgrade his bike to which Steve seems to object. Natasha and Sam seemed to be debating who had won their sparring match but when I look at Pepper I was surprised to see her looking back at me, "Would you or James like some more?" she asked 

Nodding furiously James and I both reach for the pot. I stop, letting James go first, which sent a weird look across his face like he should have let me go first but I just looked at him. so he scooped out another bowl and passed the big spoon to me. I did the same and tucked into it with much less trepidation. It took another bowl after that before I felt something, I didn't remember ever feeling. Full. Sitting back I notice that Tony had wandered off with Steve, and Sam and Natasha were standing up saying they were going to shower leaving only James and Pepper and me seated at the table. "That was delicious ma'am thank you" that shocked everyone including James if the look on his face was an indication. 

Pepper just said "your welcome" before standing up and reaching for the plates in front of her. James jumps up, scaring the daylights out of me as I look around for the threat. Not seeing anything I look back and see James taking the plates out of Peppers hands and picking up the rest. Not sure what he is doing I stand up and grab the silverware, placing them in the stack of bowls Pepper had created and grabbing them follow James over to the kitchen, Pepper follows with a stack of cups. Having no idea what I am supposed to do now, I follow James over to the sink, where he has already turned the tap on and is filling the sink with warm water. Grabbing the orange bottle of what looks like soap he pours some into the water and looks at me. I am still standing there holding my stack of bowls, he’s silently laughing at me because I look so lost, 

“You can set them in here” he says pointing at the sink. So I do, then I look at him. I’ll wash if you rinse?” he asks looking at me. I nod, I don’t think I’ve ever done this, but I can figure it out. 

“I’ll dry” Pepper says as she reaches into a drawer and pulls out a small towel. James nudges me and hands me a plate covered in bubbles. Turning on the tap I rinse the bubbles off and look at James to see if I did it right, he nods and I pass it over to Pepper slightly proud of myself. “Look at me fitting in” I think to myself. This goes on until all the dishes from dinner are washed, dried and put away. 

“Well I would imagine you guys would like to rest so I'll show you to your rooms” Pepper says and she heads off to the elevator. Scrambling to catch up James and I catch up just as the elevator dings she gets in and leads us up 2 floors. This one is built just like Steves with lots of windows and a small kitchen area and a hall that Pepper leads us down, half way down she stops and points at two doors one on her left and one on her right. It dawns on me that we are going to be split up.

I may trust some of these people but I do not trust that this tower is secure. I'm not being seperated from James and he has the same look on his face, but Pepper is already walking back down the hall. Watching as she goes around the corner, I grab James’ arm and pull him to the one on the left. Before opening the door, I look at James he has taken the defensive stance and is ready for a threat to be on the other side. Taking my place I swing the door open. The lights click on immediately and we sneak in not making a sound and checking every inch of the room for any danger. Finding nothing we stop in the middle of the room just kinda looking around, I nearly jump out of my skin when Jarvis speaks, 

“Mr Barns and Alexis, there are pajamas in the dresser by the television and toiletries for you both under the sink in the bathroom, I have notified Mr. Stark that you elected to stay in the same room and he wanted me to tell you both to do whatever makes you comfortable”

Walking slowly over to the dresser I open the top drawer inside are a large array of sweats and t-shirts of every size. “Once you know which size you prefer simply let me know and I will have the others removed from your room and replaced” Jarvis says again . James looks at me, I nod yes it seems the AI is going to be watching us and that makes me more than a little uneasy.

“Jarvis is it possible for me to upload Jennifer to the system you are running on?” I ask 

“Yes ma’am” “Could you please help me do that ?” I say and pull out my laptop

“ Yes , just plug your laptop into the outlet on the wall and I will start the process”

“Thank you Jarvis”

Plugging my laptop in I see a progress bar pop up, at the rate it's going it should be done in about 10 min, so I wander back over to the dresser and pull out a pair of sweats that look about the right size and toss them to James and pull out a set for myself. Curious about the other drawers I pull open the next one it's full of underwear, of every kind. Grabbing the first kind I see that is female. I grab a pair of boxers and toss them over to the pile of stuff James has. Closing that drawer I open the next it has socks figuring that that covered everything I opened the last drawer curiously and find basic weapons, a few knifes a small gun several things that looked like smoke bombs. It certainly looks like this room has everything. I hear my computer ding and stand up nodding at James silently telling him to come take a look . He stands and walks over pulling things out of the drawer. I walk over to my computer, the transfer is complete 

“Jarvis would you mind letting Jennifer takeover surveillance in this room if we have any questions we will ask for you but otherwise just Jennifer in here?” I ask 

“Of course Alexis”

“Jennifer where are the camera in this room?” I ask 

“There is only one and it's pointed at the door Ms. but there are sensors on the dresser alerting me when it is opened and microphones placed all around the room” she responds. 

“ Do you have access to the cameras in the hallways and living areas?”

“Yes Ms.”

“Monitor them all, if anyone you have not identified enters alert us immediately.” 

“Yes Ms.”

“And lock the door to this room no one is able to open it but myself or James. James come here for a second I have to get your voice recognition recorded” After recording his voice I make sure only Jennifer can use it.

“The room is secure Ms. and the floor is being watched I will alert you to anyone coming”

Feeling this was the best I could do I turn to James. “We should still sleep in shifts” he says.

“I agree but first I think we need to get cleaned up” 

We hadn't had any sort of shower or bath since being woken up unless you counted the dip in the river in Washington DC. While we didn't sweat we were covered in mud from the river bank and I had hydraulic fluid halfway up my arm from working in the lab. 

Walking into the connected bathroom I remembered Jarvis saying there were things under the sink. When I looked I found shampoo, conditioner, soap, hair brushes, and more makeup than I thought anyone would know what to do with. Grabbing the soap, shampoo and conditioner I turned around and handed them to James. 

“ i'll keep watch while you shower”

He nodded and took the items from my arms, I walked back to the bed and sat down I could hear the water start. Leaning against the headboard, I ask Jennifer to pick up where we had left off, with me learning about the past 100 years. 

“Yes Ms.” she started reading to me about the advances in medicine over the last 100 years. I was just learning how vaccines had saved millions of lifes when James came out in a towel, he had left the clothes on the bed.

“Thank you, Jennifer” I stood and skirted around James, it wasn't like we hadn't seen each other naked Hydra hadn't cared much about our privacy when they were running test but this felt different. Grabbing my clothes I moved into the bathroom feeling my face was hot, I couldn't figure out why and guessed it must just be the heat and steam in the bathroom.

Putting my clothes down I move over to the shower and found I have no idea how to work this thing. It had 10 buttons and no handle I couldn't even see where the water would come out. Wondering how James got it working I moved forward, suddenly water was hitting my head I jumped back looking at the ceiling, the shower head must be in the ceiling I thought. So moving more careful this time I moved to the buttons and read what they said, some were for hot water some for colder some were labeled massage some labeled with numbers. Giving up I got undressed and stepped into the shower. The water came down like rain it was a little too hot so I found the button that was labeled cold and pushed, holding it. It dropped the temp till the water was almost freezing. Moving to the very edge of the shower, trying to hide from the ice spray that was coming down, I hit the button for heat but held it for less time than the last time, slowly the temp rose and I was able to get back into the stream of water. It felt amazing I couldn't remember the last time I was able to use hot water. Grabbing the soap, I scrub my arms and body working off the mud and grime. When I opened the shampoo, I was hit with a overly sugary smell, wrinkling my nose I decided I needed the soap’s help to get the mud out of my hair and used it hoping the water would wash away the smell.

Getting out of the water I wrapped a towel around myself and looked in the mirror. I hadn't been able to really look at myself in a long time, my hair was cropped off just below my shoulder blades dark brown with my eyes matching. Taking the towel away, I looked at my body, I had more scars than I could count. A large one stretched across my lower abdomen from a test they had tried to see how much blood I could lose before losing consciousness. Numerous ones from punishments and a few from missions, not wanting to see them anymore I grabbed my clothes and threw them on. The sweats were several times too long but the shirt fit fine. Rolling up my pant legs I exited the bathroom James was sitting in the spot I left and listening to Jennifer, she was telling him about himself.

He said “thank you” and Jennifer stopped talking. 

Sitting down next to him I’m not sure what to do next and it doesn't seem he knows either.

“Go ahead and sleep I'll keep watch” he tells me I nod knowing that if I argue neither of us is going to get any sleep and I haven't slept for longer than 2 hours at a time since breaking out.

“Wake me in 4 hours and we will switch” I tell him

He slides off the bed and sits on the floor by the side. I climb into the big bed marveling at the softness of the fabric, Tony really had spared no expense in his tower. Rolling over I can't stand the sugary smell of my hair so I pull it up and twist it hoping it would stay there and fall asleep quickly.


	14. chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about the long delay for this chapter but i will be posting much more regularly from here on out. sorry for any misspellings I lost my proof reader and my spelling is really bad.

Chapter 14  
I wake only 3 hours later, I can't put my finger on it but something doesn't feel right I look at the spot where James was sitting and find him crouched next to the door listening for something. Climbing out of the bed silently I move over next to James he looks at me and nods to my computer, right I had Jennifer monitoring the whole floor. Sliding across the floor to my computer I open it, but I'm met with a dark screen. 

“What that can't happen she is now linked with the whole building, she can't just shut down.” I think to myself. Working quickly I get into Jarvis only to find that he is dark too. Now I know something is wrong, I turn the screen to face James, he looks at me darkly. Someone has shut all monitoring down and there is only one group I know of who would have the ability or the desire to attack Avengers tower, someone told Hydra we’re here. 

We can't just sit here and wait for them to find us, we aren't the type to wait for the fight. So I slide the drawer open that holds the weapons and hand James the gun. While we were both excellent shots I know he likes guns better and I am flawless with a knife.

After arming ourselves, we slip the door open just enough to see the hallway it's clear for now so we slip out and make our way to the living area I can hear the faint sound of clothes rubbing against each other. We had both taken in our surroundings when Pepper had shown us to our rooms, so we know the layout and there isn’t really anywhere to hide for a surprise attack. Looking at James I know he is thinking the same thing. We both glance quickly around the corner. They are all wearing night vision goggles looking at James I motion to the light switch at the other end of the couches and he nods. Running from around the corner I drop to my knees I slide across the floor behind the couch to the light switch and hit it, my eyes adjusted quickly and I could see the agents trying to orient themselves and take their goggles off, but before they can James and I attack. 

I could hear the gun go off but had no fear that he would miss and hit me as I wove in and out of the agents, landing precise strikes with my knife. There are a lot of agents though and more seem to be coming from the stairs. In all the noise I hear the faint ding that means someone just stepped off the elevator. Glancing at the elevator, I see Steve and Natasha stepping out. They are to busy trying to understand the mess of people in front of them to see the 4 agents come up from behind and put guns to their heads. Next thing I know James leaves his position and runs in the direction of Steve and Natasha.  
Staring at him like he had lost his mind because he had, he never leaves his post until it is safe. Yet here he is, running through the fray to get to 2 people who I know can handle themselves. In that moment of confusion one agent takes his shot and hits me straight through my right shoulder. It hurts but it isn't the first time I’ve been shot, now I have to make sure I cover James, Steve and Natasha while making sure no one sneaks up on me. The odds are not coming out in my favor, taking off at full speed for the elevator I slam into the agents holding Natasha and Steve. Glancing at Steve and over to James who had somehow been taken down and was being held by 6 men. He looks lost and isn't fighting though I know he has the strength to throw them off. I am so confused right now but James’ life is in danger and I don't have time to figure out what’s wrong.

Steve and I take off at the agents holding James down. I go for the one holding James’ head down, punching him the knee dislocating it and then kick out for his throat. He falls back and I go for the one holding his arm next. Steve is doing good, he has freed James’s other arm and is fending off the one sitting on James’ back when I notice none of the other agents are attacking. looking up I realise that Natasha is dealing with the rest while we freed james. Grateful, I turn back to an agent who had his gun leveled with my heart moving to the side quickly he misses my heart but grazes my arm. This was grating on my nerves now, James is bleeding from what looks like a shot to the side, I have now been shot twice. and I am done. Reaching out I take hold of the agent's hair pulling him to me reaching my arm behind his head I pull hard hearing the snap and he goes limp. James was free now and being helped up by Steve 

“Take him out of here” I say. 

Turning around I find Natasha flipping off an unconscious agent. Running up I offer her my hand and she takes it without hesitation. We turn and I do a quick count 8 I knew are dead, 7 I counted unconscious and 5 still standing with their guns pointed at us. 

“I'll take the ones on the left you take the right” Natasha whispers. 

Nodding I ignore the stinging coming from my shoulder and my arm. I know my arm will heal quickly, but my shoulder still held the bullet and wouldn't heal till it was removed. Since my dominant arm is wounded I have to lead with my left, running to the right I dove under a small table in the kitchen and slid out the other end. Coming up, I flip the table into 2 of the remaining guys. Moving while they are distracted I snap one of the legs off the table and swing at the head of the one still standing. I hear the sickening crunch and know he is down. Taking the knife I have stowed in the waist of my sweats, I duck down and sliced the throat of the guy still trying to get the table off of him. I kick out at the last guy who had just managed to right himself, sending him back to the floor his head bouncing off the tile and he is unconscious.

Looking over at Natasha, she has her legs wrapped around an agents throat and with a swift hit to the head he goes down too. Standing, I look around. Half the stuff on the floor is broken and the other half has bullet holes in it. Hearing the ding from the elevator I raise my knife ready to throw it but standing there is Tony, shirtless and wearing silk pajama pants. His jaw almost hit the floor when he stepped off the elevator and looks around. 

“Jarvis is down I was coming to see if Jennifer was down as well” he said looking at the fridge which hosted a dozen bullet holes

“Yeah she's down too, I think they did it” I say sardonically

I go to pick up one of my fallen knifes and flinch, forgetting for just a second that I took 2 bullets and quite a few hits. I can feel my ribs trying to mend themselves but know I am going to need help to get the bullet out of my shoulder. Natasha speaks up 

“Come on Alexis we will have Banner take a look at you.”

I follow her, not sure who Banner is but too exhausted to care much. 

“Where is James” I ask.

“He's down with him now.”

Tony abandons his inspection of the floor and joins us in the elevator. Leaning on the wall I watch the numbers above the door count down the floors till it stops and the doors open. Stepping out I see James sitting on a table with a man looking at his side. Seeing me James jumps off the table and hurries over to me. 

“Alex” 

“I'm fine” I say gesturing for him to sit back down. 

He doesn't, he looks at me and I see guilt written all over his face and if I'm being honest with myself, I'm a little angry at him. He left his position leaving me unguarded, had stopped fighting mid fight and allowed himself to be taken down.

We were a team no matter what and I had never once questioned in 70 years that he had my back, but tonight I had seen him abandoned mine for Steves. 

“Do I really have a right to be angry though?” a little voice in my head asks.

Steve is from his past and from what I read, had gone to war with him, fought by his side of his own free will. I was the girl with Hydra, yes we had been on missions and had each others backs but was it because we had to? No I had made the choice all those years ago to protect number 2, I chose to take punishments and anything else I could to protect him. He is more than someone I had been thrown together with. He was all I knew, he was my family. But was it the same for him? He is getting memories back of who he was before Hydra, of the man Steve knew. And in gaining those memories a shift had occurred, I needed to let it. I had survived before he came to Hydra and I would survive now. Looking back up at James I just asked 

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah I am.” he answers

Nodding I move around him 

“Are you Banner?”I ask the man who had been looking at James’ wounds.

“Yes, I am, you can call me Bruce” he says with a small smile.

“It's nice to meet you” I say

Without wasting time on pleasantries because my shoulder won't heal with the bullet in it and it’s starting to really hurt. 

I ask “I have a bullet in my shoulder, it isn’t going to heal until it's taken out could you help me?”

“Yes of course hop up here and we will take a look” he says gesturing to the table James had been sitting on.

Giving a little jump I get up on the table without moving my arm too much, holding it still while Bruce removes the shirt from around the wound. He turns to grab a needle and moves to my arm. Moving so fast I scare him I grab his hand before the needle hits my skin.

“It's only a numbing agent” Bruce says looking up at me through his glasses. 

“I'd rather not if the choice is mine. I can handle the pain and I don't like needles” I give as an explanation.

“Of course, just brace yourself then.” he says.  
Putting the syringe down, he grabs some tweezer looking things and waits till I nod before digging into my arm for the bullet. Honestly the pain isn't that bad. He does it a lot more gently than any of Hydras lab coat people ever did. In a few moments he is done and is putting bandages over the wound. He sees the blood from my other wound, but that one had already healed and left a nice pink scar in a few days it would fade into a pale pink and be almost invisible. Asking if he can check for other injuries I nod and zone out I had been through this a million times. Every time after a mission they would run a full body check for injuries and then monitor how they were healing if I had any.

After a few moments Natasha moves into my field of vision I focus on her better.

“Thank you, I'm not sure I would have gotten out with so few injuries if you hadn't helped” I say to her.

“No problem, I'm always up for a good fight, but how did they figure out you were here?” she asks.

“That’s a good question, it's not like we told them where we were headed. In fact we were half way through West Virginia before I decided to head to New York”, I say.

Everyone falls silent, except Tony who is working to try and figure out how they had caused Jarvis to go dark. It doesn’t take him long to get him running again but neither know how they had gotten in. I look over at James he is fiddling with a bullet mark on his metal arm. Jumping off the table, I walk over to James and take his metal arm. I look at the bullet mark it isn't severe damage but it's going to need repaired and then it hits me. Hydra was always able to keep track of us on missions, they always knew when we would deviate from a planned route and when we headed back to the base.

“Jarvis can you run a scan of James’ arm and put it up in a 3D model” I ask the AI.

“Yes ma’am”.

A blue light scans over James, an image comes up in the room. Moving forward I flick my hand to remove the metal image covering the electronics. Having helped create this version of the arm I recognise all the wires. Following all the ones that linked the ability to move his arm to his nerves, I follow the ones that calibrated the movement, so it wouldn't mess too badly with his center of gravity, then the ones that worked like nerves making it so he could feel better with his metal one than with his normal one and right there at the base of where his elbow would bend was a device I didn't put there. 

“Jarvis can you separate this” I say while pointing at the device “so I can look at it”

“Yes ma’am” he says

“Enlarge it?” I ask 

What I'm looking at is advanced, so it must have been updated recently. It's a very small tracking device, looking back at James.

“ Did you have work done on your arm recently?” I ask.

“Yes his shield damaged one of the pieces and they replaced it “ he says gesturing to Steve.

“Well when they replaced that piece they updated a tracker, it's advanced from what I can tell just from looking at this they could track your location down to an altitude, they knew exactly where we were even the floor” I tell him.

Looking back over to Tony I ask,

“Can I get your help, my arm won't be healed for at least a few hours and I can't remove something this small and delicate with my left hand”.

“Of course” he nods and sets to work getting all the tools we’re going to need to take the tracker out.

While he's doing that I look at James I know he doesn't like people messing with his metal arm 

“We have to take it out James or they are always going to be able to find us” I say

“I could just leave” he says looking at me.

“No” Steve and I say at the same time.

“They would track you down in minutes, without out help they would overwhelm you. They stormed Avengers Tower, they aren't holding back anymore. The world knows they are out there and they are desperate, without us they dont have the hold they used to, they can't just send us out and take care of any opposition. We will send the tracker west make it look like we got spooked by the attack and took off, I'll set it to deactivate somewhere near a big port they will think we figured it out and got rid of it before leaving the country.” I tell him but he doesn’t look convinced.

“Let’s take this out, then if you want to leave I will pack my stuff and we will go. I decided a long time ago I was going to have your back no matter what, so if you leave I'm coming.”

“Me to Buck,” Steve says, “I'm with you ‘till the end of the line.” 

Looking at us, he just shakes his head, “You know you two are the most stubborn people i've ever had to deal with”.

“Obviously you have never tried to pick a place to eat with Tony” Natasha says from the corner.

“I maintain that Shawarma is delicious and we should eat it as often as possible” Tony says from across the lab.

Leading James over to the table I was sitting on earlier, I pull up a chair. I can't stand to work on him while he laid down, it was too much like what Hydra did so I simply prop his arm up on the table and start taking off the metal plates that covered his arm setting the damaged one to the side to be repaired. Tony rolls up on a chair, and we got to work removing the tracker, careful not to damage it so we could send it West. Hours later we finally had the device removed. They had wired it into so much of the arm that it had taken a while to untangle it and leave his arm the way it was, minus one tracker. Tony had gotten very excited when I told him that I had created this arm.

“He had a diffrent arm when he came to the base. Over the years as technology got better, it became a liability it would malfunction and risk the missions. About 20 years ago they kept me awake after a mission to create a new one for him. It took me a while, my mind isn't always great at staying on task. One of the downfalls of being as old as I am and going in and out of the freeze so often.” I explain.

“Wait, how old are you? You look 20.” Tony asks.

“I'm not really sure. I was taken a while ago though, I don't have many memories from back then. I know the world looks very different today so it must have been a long time ago. I had already been with them for a while when they brought James in, I was already going on missions and had been for a while. My file probably has an exact date” I finish.

“File?” asks Tony

“They kept files on each of us, documenting experiments and each time we came out of the freeze. I don't know where they keep them all, yours is probably in the base we were kept in near Reva, South Dakota” I said gesturing up at James “ one of mine is upstairs in my backpack I saw it on my way out and grabbed it” I say while trying to get a stubborn plate to sit where it was supposed to. 

“You know where the base is?”

“You have your file and never looked?”

“Why haven't you told us this before?”

Questions came at me from everyone at once, Natasha stepped forward seeing that I was overwhelmed by the anger and questions being hurled at me.

“Alexis why don't we go grab your file and then we can figure out if we need to know more ok?”

I nodded and handed the stubborn metal piece to Tony who was looking ashamed for attacking me with questions. Natasha led the way over to the elevator, as soon as the door closes I turned to her. 

“I'm sorry I didn’t tell anyone about the base. I didnt think about it being important because neither James or I are there anymore, and I didn’t think anyone would care about my file. It's just a bunch of tests and stuff I think, I haven't even looked in it”

She waved her hand to stop me rambling. 

“It's ok Alexis, they just got over excited. We have been trying to take out any remaining Hydra bases and having a hard time finding them. So it was just a shock that you know where a major one is. They aren't mad or anything just surprised.” she explains  
I’m not sure I believe her. Steve had looked like I betrayed him but I stopped talking as the elevator dinged and opened. Looking around I was surprised, last time I was on this floor several bodies littered the floor, but now it was empty.

“Pepper had the police come and clean up “ Natasha answered my question before I could ask it.

“Do I know you?” I ask 

Her head snapped up. 

“I guess I mean do you know me? You know when I'm getting overwhelmed, you answer the questions I haven't asked. It's just like you know me” I explain while we walk to James and my room.

“I knew someone a lot like you a long time ago,” she said

I knew she was holding back but since she hadn't pushed me I decided I wouldn’t push her, maybe it was a friend who had passed or something.

“It's over here Natasha” I said changing the subject

“Call me Nat, everyone else does”

I like that and nod grabbing my backpack and pulling out the file that held all the results of years of test and torture, not wanting to touch it I hand it to Nat.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
“Is it alright if we look in here it might help us learn more about you” Nat asked.  
Taken back by anyone asking I nod. I don't want to see what is in the file, but I do want to know more about myself, James had Steve to help him learn about himself I only had this file.  
When we got back to the lab, everyone was looking ashamed and not making eye contact with me, not understanding I just grab the file from Nat and set it on the table, taking a deep breath I feel something behind me. Turning I see James, he has moved to my back next to Nat like they were offering support. Taking a deep breath I open the file. Undoing the binding that held the papers in it and spread them out on the table. 

“Jarvis please scan them.” I say.

A light passes over them and pretty soon a screen appears in the middle of the room, front and center was a picture of me. I don't look much different than I do now but I remember this picture being taken it was just after their final dose of the blue liquid. Looking at me as if asking if he can look Tony started flipping through the pages, some of them were pictures some were just words but every page came with a new wave of hate for Hydra. It’s like living the whole thing in reverse, Tony stopped on a picture that was of me during one of the tests, it had me laying strapped on a table. I could see the wounds they had caused to see if I would heal, this one was when they had sliced me open to see if blood loss affected my healing, it had. 

Bruce excused himself after that picture and I got the feeling he didn't want to see anymore. I couldn't blame him, I didn't want to see any more but with each picture I was able to remember more and more of those times and each time I had been awake. Tony seemed to be getting sick and had to excuse himself when an image came up of me filleted like a fish so they could look at my bones, soon Steve left too unable to see what had happened to me and most likely happened to his best friend. Nat took over flipping through the digital pages, thankfully she turns the pages faster than Tony when images came up. I was starting to get a headache from remembering so much, soon she got frustrated.

“Jarvis scan the rest of them is there anything in them that is about taking Alexis” she asks

“Yes ms Natasha page 211 is about originally taking ms Alexis” the AI says after a moment.

“Go to that page and tell everyone they can come back in” Nat responds

Turning I see Tony, Steve, Pepper, and Bruce file in just as a picture comes up, it's of me only much younger. I grab the file off the desk and dig through to find page 211 when I find it I look closer I look young, maybe 11. I can hear the others talking but I'm lost in the information we had just found. Turning the page I see a file entry.

Subject number 1  
Born: august 19 1878  
Taken: February 21 1890  
Ability: elemental  
The subject has shown great promise with her ability to control the elements.

I had a birth date and a name for the powers I knew I had but never got to understand.

Looking up I wasn't in the lab anymore. This time I was in a field with a young boy we were running and laughing and I was back in the lab, I had slipped off the chair I was on and James was kneeling in front of me looking concerned taking his outstretched hand I got up still kind of dazed I look at James.  
“I have a birthday, holy shit I'm 135 years old” I said looking at him “how did Hydra even have the technology to put me into cryo we didn't even have electricity”

“That seems to be explained here” Bruce says 

Walking over I sit down again

“From this report they didn't mean to put you into cryo the first time, they were working on controlling your power over the elements and they pushed you too far. You set off an ice storm in their lab freezing yourself in the process, since it wasn't natural ice it didn't melt for a while, like a year. When they examined you they heard a heartbeat and learning from that they created cryogenic freezing, though it was another 30 years before they perfected how to keep someone other than yourself alive while frozen. In the time between the 2 they would push you till you caused an ice storm and froze everything in the room yourself included, then would pump heat in to unfreeze you when they wanted you. It's why your memory is so bad of that time, you weren't prepared to be frozen, you weren't given time to adjust when woken up. Also being 12 when it first happened probably had a hand in helping you forget” Bruce finished darkly

“I thought Hydra started with the Red Skull” Steve says  
“Do you really think he was the first one to want to take over the world? Hydra has existed for hundreds of years just because they went under a different name doesn't make them different.`` I tell him “I wasn't the only one they had when they took me I don't think” I have blurry memories about other people they were studying “ but i was the only one who survived”

No one spoke and I was beginning to feel like they were pitying me, something I definitely didn't want. Searching my mind for something to break the silence, I turn looking at Steve and burst out laughing. He looks at me like I've lost it.

“I'm older than you! Ha” turning to James “and you! Ha i'm the oldest super being!”

Tony falls off his chair he's laughing so hard, even Bruce is laughing while Nat and Pepper just smile on but Steve and James look affronted.

“Only by what? like 35 years.” Steve says 

“I'm still physically older than you since I was taken when I was 27” James says looking at me like he won.

“Ha no I'm 135 years old you’re both maybe 90! I'm older!”

From the floor I hear Tony “As fun as this is, we need to talk about the base you were held at”’

I knew we would so I sit down

“I’ll tell you everything I can” I say and launch into recounting how I had escaped and found myself outside Reva. Tony had pulled up a map of the area and in my mind I worked the route I had taken backwards. 

“About here.” I say pointing at building I knew was the facility I had escaped though it was labeled Schmidt Lumber Storage. 

“Are you sure? This looks like a business?” Bruce asks.

“Schmidt was the real name of The Red Skull so i'm going to have to agree with Alexis” Steve says while looking at the map.

“That’s the road I came out on it leads directly into Reva.” I say pointing at the road I had taken.

“We need to pull up everything we can on this, then we can plan the best way to take it down” Steve says. 

“I'm coming with you.” I say.

“I'm not sure that would be wise,” Bruce says looking at you. “Going back to the place that held you for who knows how long, facing the people and doctors who tested and tortured you. I don't think you should have to.”

“It's not that I have to, I want to. This is the place that holds all the documents on both James and I, if we can get James’s file I can have exact dates that they wiped him and what they were wiping him of. The original chair they used to wipe him was there if I can get a hold of the computer that runs it I won’t have to rewrite the code from scratch. I know those halls better than anyone save for James, you need me and I want to come.” I finished looking at James.

“I'm coming too,” James says.

We both look at Steve.

“‘I’d say they have more right than anyone to help take this base down. But you have to follow the plan we come up with” Steve says looking at both of us.

 

James and I both nod agreeing to his terms.

“Great!” Tony says “let’s get to making a plan then cause we need to move on this quickly before they move. Alexis, James what can you tell us about the building, guards, people in charge pretty much anything you know would be helpful.”

James and I spent the next 2 hours drawing the facility marking the rooms we knew and where we had always seen guards. By the end of it everyone had a pretty good idea of how the building was set up and what kind of defenses they were likely to have.

Exhausted I stood up 

“I'm going to bed” I said to the group at large

James stood up and so did everyone else, we both looked at them.

“I think we can find our way.” I told them but no one sat down.

“Were going to stay on your floor and keep an eye out.” Nat says looking at you.

“We are not having a repeat of last night” Steve adds

too tired to argue I just turned, I had lost count of how long I had actually been awake now and James hadn’t even gotten the 3 hours I'd gotten before the attack. Everyone filed off the elevator and headed for the living area except Nat and Steve they follow us back to our room. Having us wait while they went in and checked to make sure it was clear. I'm sure James would have argued but neither of us were in any shape for a fight if someone was in the room. Bruce had forced me into a sling to keep my shoulder still while it healed, and james had a bandage around his ribs where he had been shot. When they came back out they threw us a nod and we went in. Tony had fixed Jennifer for me while we were being bandaged 

“Jennifer lock the door monitor the whole building if someone so much as looks like they are suspicious alert Jarvis and us, watch every floor if anyone unauthorized enters any of the upper floors set off the alarm.”

“Yes ms”

Knowing that Steve and Nat where just outside the door and Jennifer was watching everything I look at James. 

“ we both need sleep so lets let Nat and Steve take watch” he nodded too tired to argue. 

Climbing into the bed again I slid to the far side and climbed under the blankets I don’t even remember James climbing in. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kind of a filler chapter but here you go

Chapter 16  
It is almost 12 hours before I wake up, James is still sleeping next to me so I lay still thinking about everything that happened the previous night. Hydra attacked, no real surprise there I knew they had to be looking for us. James had left his position in order to protect Steve, that was strange, id never seen James leave his spot and I had never seen James be taken down by basic Hydra agents. His flashes of memory are getting dangerous, he had explained last night that he had had a memory flash and was taken over by the need to protect Steve. What if that happened while we were raiding the Hydra base? Well the most logical solution is to partner James with Steve but they haven’t worked together in over 70 years, and if we partner Steve with James I would presumably take his partner Nat. She is competent but we have never fought together either. I need to talk to everyone. I look over at James to see if he was awake, his eyes are open and he's staring at the ceiling.

“We need to talk about teams” I say causing him to look at me “you have an instinct to protect Steve from your life before, we need to utilize that.”

He nods but says “We’re a team.”

“Yes we are, but we can't risk you blanking out and leaving me exposed again.” cringing at how blunt that sounds, it was rude. But James just nods again.

“Your right, who will be your partner?” he asks

“If we partner you with Steve then I will probably be partnered with Nat. we need to talk to them though. Jennifer where are Steve and Natasha?” I ask aloud to the room.

“They are still stationed outside your door ms” she answers smoothly

Climbing off the end of the bed I go over to the drawers again, shutting the drawer that had held the weapons last night I make a mental note that the weapon drawer needs to be restocked and go in search of something to wear. grabbing 2 sets of sweats and shirts I toss James his and slip into the bathroom and throw mine on. These aren't as big as the last set but are still to big.

Exiting the bathroom I see James slipping the shirt over his head, a warm feeling creeps up my neck again and again I don't know why. Watching his muscles ripple through his back as he pulls the shirt down he turns around.   
“What?” he asks

Trying to cover the fact that i was just staring at him I stumble over my words

“I was uh... your wounds...healing well?”

I end it like a question and internally slap myself “what the hell is wrong with me? why am I suddenly feeling so warm?” 

“Yeah, I only took a graze to my side but it's healed already,” he says

Nodding so that I don't risk saying anything else stupid. I move to the door and he moves right behind me, moving into position in case someone attacks when I open the door. Cracking it just enough to check the hall I see Steve look at me questioningly but I hear Nat 

“It's all clear Alexis”

Opening the door I move into the hall still making sure to check it myself

“We need to talk.” Nat says looking at both of us

Curious because I was just about to say the same thing. I motion to the living area on this floor and she sets off taking the lead I go to follow but look back at James, there seems to be a mini argument happening about who is going to go down the hall first. I know James isn't going to let someone walk behind him so Steve should just give up. I stop because whether James and I are partners on the field, we are still partners here and I'm not leaving him, even if I'm growing to trust Steve and his friends.

“Let it go Steve and get in here.” I hear Nat as she sticks her head around the corner to see where we are.

She's laughing as I watch Steve visibly sigh and move down the hallway. James moves up to where I'm standing. We move like a unit into the living area, It looks like a wild pack of animals had come through it. The couch was on it's side with bullet holes through it, the table was mostly splinters, the TV is hanging on the wall sideways, and everything else is either riddled with bullet holes or so broken I can't figure out what it used to be. Grabbing the end of one couch I look at James, he grabs the other end and we flip it back over. Steve grabs the chairs that used to be in the kitchen that had somehow ended up by the elevator, and pulls them back into the living area Nat takes one and he takes the other. James and I sit on the couch and look at them as the silence stretches out. 

“OK enough of the awkward silences, that's all this group does when we get near each other” I say when it gets to the point that I can't stand it anymore “you said we needed to talk?” I say to Nat

“Yes, we need to discus teams for the assault on the facility you were held at” Steve says just as Nat opens her mouth “ we were just thinking, that well, it would be good.”

“We think you guys need to not be a team” Nat says

I'm grateful she just said it because it didn't look like Steve was ever going to figure out how to.

“We were thinking the same, James has a natural instinct to protect Steve from his time previous to Hydra.” I say

“It poses a threat if I try to protect him and leave Alex uncovered” James says looking at Steve

“Did you have something in mind” says Nat 

“If James partners with Steve it's the best outcome, if his instinct to protect come out then he is already partnered with him and no one is left in danger. I know that you and Steve are usually paired together so if you aren't comfortable with it we should think of something else” I finish

Steve sighs again and I look at him

“ I didn't expect it to go this smoothly” he says as an explanation

I look at James and I can see the uneasy look in his eyes. I know we have the same look, neither of us wants a different partner but we both know that this mission is to important to risk leaving anyone unprotected. It's too important to me that James is safe to risk it. Looking back at Steve I say.

“We know it's what's best for the mission, we won't risk a mission this important”

“Alexis that means you will partner with me” Nat says “ we have limited time between now and when we head out, we need to practice together and so do you” she says pointing between James and Steve.

They look at each other. I stifle a laugh Steve is looking like a kid given a gift, but James is looking like he was just tasked with working with a wet sock. I've seen Steve fight and if he could fight Number 2 and still be standing i'm not worried about him holding his own.

“We should start right away,” she says and I stand up

“Lead the way “ I say gesturing to her I'm wearing sweats already, she turns to Steve 

“Can you lead them down to gym 1 while I go get changed” he nods and she takes off to the stairs while Steve leads me and James over to the elevator.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17  
Steve stopped on an upper floor and led us through some large double doors leaving us there, he goes to get changed himself. Looking around, it's a very weird gym. There is no equipment, just a very large room with mat floors looking at James I can see he's thinking the same thing. 

“Even Hydras gym was better stocked than this” I say and he nods vigorously

Just then both Nat and Steve come back in. Nat is in a sports bra and Steve is in sweats, a lot like ours but he carrying his shield.

“OK first, we need to see what you guys do as a team and against each other, so we can figure out what we need to do to be the other half” Steve says after they joined us in the middle of the room.

It makes sense that they need to be able to see how we fight in order to work with us. I turn to James, this will be the first time we have been fighting each other without Hydra yelling to go harder and be better, or one of us trying to push the other off a helicarrier

“this could be fun” I think to myself

 

“You think you're finally up to taking me down?” I ask teasingly

James looks at me and smiles almost cockily at me. 

“Maybe I've been taking it easy on you, not wanting to hit a dame and all” he says 

“Ha, you haven't been able to win in 70 years. I don't think your ego would have let you lose so much if you were just taking it easy on me” I say smiling.

I know how he fights, but many of the recent blocks Hydra had put in his head about my fighting have been broken so he will remember fighting me as well. I'll be damned if I let him take me down easily after backing me off the helicarrier.

“Careful, your over 100 I wouldn't want you to break a hip,” he says over his shoulder at me

“Aren't you supposed to respect your elders” I say following him over to the center of the mat and get into my beginning stance as he does the same. 

It's like when were on missions and practicing, the few times we didn't have microphones on us so our handlers could monitor us constantly. Here we’re friends, not opponents. We both look over at Steve and Nat they are laughing but Nat nods at us to begin so we turn to each other 

“Careful, don't hurt yourself again” I say and he lunges

He's not one to wait for his opponent to make the first move. I knew he would come at me first, dodging to the right I grab his arm, using his momentum to send him into one of the glass walls that make up the walls of the gym. He uses his metal arm to stop him from slamming into it. I'm impressed that the glass doesn't break, it must be shatterproof. Before I can think about it too much James is back, this time he's got the look in his eyes that he gets when we spar. He swings, I duck but don't see his leg come out to swipe my legs out from under me. Feeling him hit the back of my leg I fling myself, kicking my legs over my head and land in a crouch. he was expecting to take me by surprise, not throw myself behind him so he's open. I slam my foot into the back of his knee and watch as it buckles beneath him. launching over his shoulder as he falls I land in front of him. Using my leg to wrap around his neck I swing around so i'm on his shoulders and using my legs to choke him. He throws his full body weight back, slamming me into the mat and even though it's padded it knocks the wind out of me causing me to loosen my grip with my legs. He slips out and rolls over, still slightly dazed I miss the tensing of his shoulder as he throws a punch at my face. Feeling blood coming from where his fist hit I roll backwards and into a crouch again watching as he stands. Taking a second I watch as he moves, he’s favoring the leg I kicked but that will heal quickly, I need to use it while I can and I come out of my crouch aiming a kick for his injured leg but he's expecting it and twists sending a punch to my side. I'm sent flying across the gym landing when I hit the glass. 

Getting back up, “I'm not losing this fight” I think to myself. I need to stop attacking and think, he was always the brute force I am the tactical one. I let him get in my head and it's messing me up, taking a breath I clear my mind letting all the friendly taunts slip from my memory. I look back at him and analyze my opponent, he’s much bigger than I am but he’s just as quick, his leg is injured but not very badly. That look in his eyes, I know that look but not usually from him. It's the look of a guy not willing to admit defeat from a girl. I've seen it when targets try to fight when they realize I'm a girl. That, I can use, nothing weakens an opponent more than being focused on my sex and not my abilities. 

He stands about 7 feet from me looking at me like he's already won looking around I calculate. Leaping into action as the plan solidifies in my head I run right at James he looks a bit surprised, I'm not usually one for head on attacks and I use that second of surprise to leap sending both feet right into his chest, he flies back hitting the glass that was a few feet back. He hits his head dazing him. I fly into action again before he gets his bearings back, punching the inside of his injured leg sending him to one knee wrapping an arm around his neck, I plant both feet on the glass and push off sending us both forward into the mat, trapping him with a wounded knee, stunned from the head wound, losing oxygen and not enough space between him and the glass or floor to get any leverage to push me off.

I feel a tap on my arm and I let go sliding off and watch as he rolls over. He's looking at me annoyed but I'm grinning from ear to ear.

“You still leave your left leg open, your used to having your metal arm on that side so you don't even think about it.” I say 

“ I know, you keep using that opening.” he says without any real malice in his voice

“I'll stop using it when you stop leaving it open” I say like it should be obvious.

“Well that was violent” I hear Nat speak

I had forgotten that anyone had been watching and turn to look up at her

“No more than usual, if fact much less blood than expected” I say as she hands me a towel and helps me to my feet.

I wipe my cheek where I can feel the blood. The cut is already healing I look over at Steve and realize he's glaring at me. 

“Did you have to go so hard on him,” he says and it's dripping with deep dislike

Looking at James who is still sitting behind Steve like Steve is expecting me to come at James again. He has the same look of confusion that i'm sure is on my face. I had done what I was told, we were sparing the goal was to show them what we can do and we had done that. 

Had I gone to hard with James? I didn't remember doing anything very bad we had both been sticking to injuries that would heal quickly. I moved to help James stand up, Steve moved in front of me with his shield raised, my confusion only intensifying taking a step back I did something I had never done, I take a step back from James. I walked over to the doorway and stand there watching. Steve tried to lean over James but James was already getting up, his knee healed enough to take his weight and he moves over to stand next to me. Nat and Steve stare at us as we stood very still, in fact you had to look very closely to even see us breath. We stand there waiting to be yelled at and punished, though neither of us could figure out what we did wrong, obviously Steve wasn't happy with the fight though. We just stand there looking at the ground. Nat walks over to us and we look up, ready to take whatever came.

“Alexis, James neither of you are in trouble. You did exactly what we asked Steve just doesn't like seeing James get hurt. We are not Hydra we are not going to punish you.” she says in a very strong tone

I look over at Steve who is standing there with his mouth wide open

“No Alexis, no one is going to punish you. You both did exactly what we asked and even if you hadn't we are not going to punish you, not Steve not me not Tony no one is going to set a punishment. Nodding not knowing what to do, Steve isn't happy with the sparring and without punishment i'm unsure what to do next. So i just turn to James

“Are you OK?” I ask quietly

“Yeah, my ego is a little wounded but i'm fine” he replies

I nod and turn walking out of the gym. I don't know where to go but I can't stay there with Steve staring at me, hating me. I see the sign for stairs and slide through the door noiselessly, taking the stairs 3 at a time I run for the roof. It feels like my chest is being squeezed and I cant breath, I burst through the doors at the top there is a strong chilly wind being up so high but I feel like I am on fire, everything is too hot and I can’t breath, I can feel my heart rate going up and the world starts going fuzzy at the edges. As I slide down the wall I hear as if from a great distance a voice calling my name but I can't think so I just sit gasping in air, no matter how much I take in I’m not getting enough. The edges of my vision are going black, and suddenly Tony is kneeling in front of me his mouth is moving but I can't hear him very well 

“what is he saying?” I think he's saying my name but it's like i'm under water, which would explain the not enough air thing, but i'm not under water. Tony grabs my shoulders and forces me to look at him and I focus really hard to hear what he's saying 

“Alexis you're having a panic attack, I need you to hold your breath and count with me” I finally hear him say

I snap my mouth shut and look at him 

“Good 1..2..3..4..5..6..7 now breath out while counting to eight”

I breath out trying to regulate it to his counting

“1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8 good now breath in counting to 4”

Taking air in felt like i was suffocating

“1..2..3..4.. Good now hold it till 7 again, and now out to 8”

Finally, I feel like I am breathing again, the fuzzy black edges on my vision go away and my heart rate regulates itself. Looking up at Tony I don't see pity, I see understanding. He sits down in front of me, continuing to count my breathing I slowly start feeling better I feel muscles I hadn't known I was clenching loosen and I slumped slightly. 

“Thank you” I say in an almost whisper

“Don't worry about it, I get them sometimes too so when Jennifer noticed your heart rate she told me and I came to find you. Do you know what triggered it.” He asked

I look down, I’m not sure but I can guess it had something to do with the look Steve was giving me.

“Steve was unhappy with a sparring match between James and I” I can't even tell him what I had done to make Steve so upset. Nat had said Steve didn't like seeing James hurt, but I hadn't hurt him, at least nothing lasting and he had thrown just as hard. so i don't know what else to tell Tony who was looking at me like I wasn't making sense

“When our handlers were unhappy with a sparring session or a mission they would punish us, sometimes it was just food or sleep withheld. Sometimes it was more experiments and worst was the chair. For James they would just wipe his memory most of the time, but he would sometimes get other punishments. But they had to make sure I remembered the punishment, so they would make it sever every time. The look Steve had on his face, it screamed get away from me and I hate you without ever actually saying anything. They told us to spar.” I was looking at him hoping he could shed some light on what I had done wrong but he was just shaking his head. 

“Come on, the Adrenalin pushed though your system will wear off soon and you will get really tired so let's get you somewhere better than the roof helping me stand up he lead me to the elevator I hadn't noticed . I zoned out and just watched the numbers count down the floors, when the doors opened it took me a second to follow Tony. He lead me into the living area where I noticed Nat and James sitting on the couches. I walked over to James and sat down next to him he looked up at me

“ are you OK” he asked and I could hear the question he hadn't asked but wanted to, if they had punished me.

I shook my head and replied “ yeah I'm fine, what about you?” and he heard the same question he didn't ask in my voice he also shook his head but replied that he was fine.

Nodding I hear Tony and Nat having a quick conversation, not releasing that we could both hear them just fine no matter how quietly they spoke. 

“If you want to have a conversation without us hearing you might want to move further away”

they both jumped and looked at me I tapped my ear

“ along with everything else we can both hear even the smallest sounds” Tony looked embarrassed but Nat just looked me straight in the eyes 

“ we need to talk about what happened” I nod hoping if she explained what had happened I would finally understand

Tony spoke next “you have been taught that when you do something that makes someone else unhappy that you have done something wrong.”

he said it as a statement not a question but James and I nod.

“that is not the case here OK, just because someone does something someone else doesn't like doesn't make it inherently wrong.” Nat spoke

“Like in the gym” tony said directly to me

“you did exactly what was asked and did what you thought we expected. Steve and I were the ones unprepared for how strong you really are and that you have been sparring with each other for a long time if we wanted you to go easy on each other we should have said so” Nat said

James interrupted “we did take it easy on each other” he says 

looking at Nat I can see he's trying to get her to understand, we both could take much more and had in fact inflicted much worse to each other over the years.

“neither of us ever went for hits that would disable the other we hit with half the strength we have and we didn't do any damage that would last longer than an hour maybe” i said speaking up trying to get them to understand.

that shocked tony but Nat looks like she had suspected as much. we took it easy on each other.

Nat spoke up again “ none of us are angry at either of you you did great” at that I look at her skeptical and I know she is thinking about Steve who chose that moment to walk in from the kitchen area.

“Shes right Alexis” he says “ I was upset seeing you hit Bucky so hard,I didn't even bother to notice that he was hitting you just as hard I was focused on my friend. I didn't take time to notice that neither of you were hurt beyond what would heal in a few moments. I judged you harshly because I don't like seeing the people I care about hurt, I shouldn't have i'm sorry, would you please forgive me”

The look on his face said he felt like the world's worst human, it was making me feel bad that he felt bad, he looked like a little kid whose dog had just been killed. Not knowing what to do to make him stop looking so sad I look at Nat with a look that screamed “help”. She chuckled and tapped Steve on the shoulder

“that's enough with the sad puppy look your going to break her”

Steve looks over at me and suddenly sees the wide eyes and that I am leaning back from him. the sound of laughter came from behind me I turn to see James doubled over in laughter looking around I am positive everyone has lost their damn minds, Captain Kicked Puppy was still looking at me with sincerity, while managing to look at James with exasperation, Nat was laughing a little to, and Tony had a look of someone who wouldn't laugh but desperately wanted to. Looking back at James I just look at him till he calms enough to notice my annoyed expression which sobered him quickly 

“he used to use that expression to get us out of trouble when we were kids it always worked but you looked more scared of it than saddened by it” he explained 

Nat spoke up, she still had the slight sound of someone laughing 

“he tried to get you to forgive him with the big eyes and sad face he uses it on all of us all the time but it always works but it seems he's hit his match with you” 

“HA” came from tony “someone unaffected by you sad puppy dog eyes FINALLY!” looking over at Steve he looked ashamed 

“I'm sorry that I seem to do it without realizing i'm doing it” he says

Finally allowing a laugh to escape I look at James again “that look works on people?” I ask

James laughed “it used to, he got us out of a lot of trouble with it and it seems to work on his friends now so, yeah.” James says

Looking back at Steve I smiled “ I do forgive you but your going to have to come up with something better than sad eyes to get me”

I laugh and pat the back of his had and freeze. other that while fighting and with James this was the first time I had touched someone else on purpose. Coughing slightly Nat drew my attention back to her 

“ our second point we wanted to talk to you about was we wanted to make sure you both of you understand that no matter what you do, whether we like it or not we will not punish you.” she says in a tone that brokers no argument

at that James stopped laughing immediately and I looked at Tony he nodded at her words. Not really believing it would be that simple I just nod and could feel James doing the same from behind me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suffer from really bad panic attacks so I created a badass who is still bad ass even with panic


End file.
